


Where Other's Falter

by HeinousWriter



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel), Character Death, Dancing and Singing, Death, Demons, F/M, Fake Marriage, Falling In Love, Forbidden Love, Friendship/Love, Funny, Hate to Love, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Love/Hate, Marriage, Multi, Original Character(s), Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-01-29 08:02:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21406876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeinousWriter/pseuds/HeinousWriter
Summary: Irene never meant to end up in Hell, but accidents happen and what to do when shit's thrown your way? She is a talented singer from the 1920s and her husband was a serial killer, but who knew, right? It doesn't help she can't recall his name or the way he sounds. Hoping to find an ounce of redemption from an old pupil of hers, she finds herself in front of the 'Happy Hotel' and a red demon who reminds her of the tube radios from her era.What could possibly go wrong?Alastor/OC pairing: fair warning on violence and cussing.
Relationships: Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) & Original Character(s), Alastor (Hazbin Hotel)/Original Character(s), Alastor (Hazbin Hotel)/Original Female Character(s), Charlie Magne/Vaggie, Irene/Alastor
Comments: 81
Kudos: 345





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all!
> 
> I have finally decided to create a Hazbin Hotel fanfic. *distant shouts of hurray's* 
> 
> Anyways, this is an Alastor/OC relationship fic, please leave if you can't agree with these terms because of the whole asexual thing. (Which by the way, asexual people can love FYI, just pointing that out.)
> 
> There is something I would like to point out, in Irene's memories, Alastor gets worse mentally throughout the fic; as in killing wise and whatever stuff he does that's murderous or sadistic.
> 
> I hope everyone enjoys this little fanfic and let me know if you have any questions! Thanks for reading!

Past Memory Flashback: 

Humming a familiar tune under her breath, Irene straightens the newspaper in her hands. She is on the lookout for her name somewhere in the articles. Skimming over a bunch of important news, she finally spots what she is looking for, “Yes!” she exclaims with a huge grin. 

She gets up from her chair and does a little dance around the living room. She can’t believe the town wrote about her! 

“Alastor!” she shouts, barely containing her excitement as she speed runs down the hallway toward their bedroom. She calls out his name louder when she gets closer. 

He pops out of the tiny master bathroom, in the process of shaving his face. “Yes, dear?” he asks with an inquisitive eyebrow raised. 

She skips up to his side and holds the paper out to him. She points down to an article where her name is located, “I’m in the paper!” 

He gives her a wonderful grin in return and sets his razor down on the counter. He takes the newspaper out of her grip, “Let’s see here, ‘Irene Vallier, also known as the Crystal Clear, performed her new song at the Hiren’s Grove restaurant and it had people pooling in from the streets to hear such a lovely voice...” Alastor skims the words with a growing grin. “Hazzah! Splendid job, dear!” 

She blushes at his compliments and he goes in for a side hug, kissing her cheek lightly in the process; trying to not get shaving cream on her. “You should ‘ave saw it Al’! People from all over town were crowdin’ the area!” 

He let’s go of her with a chuckle and proceeds to pick up his razor again. “I’m proud of you, I really am!” 

She lets out a sigh of bliss and tumbles onto their double bed, practically swooning. Landing on it with her arms out, she continues to endlessly smile at the ceiling, “Do you think you can get me an interview?” she asks in wonder. 

“To personally interview my wife would be gloating, wouldn’t it?” 

She smirks a little and turns onto her side to look at him, placing her elbow on the mattress and holding her head up. “You, not gloat? The idea is laughable.” 

He smirks at her as well and wipes his face with a towel nearby. He hums a little tune and comes closer to her, he pokes her nose playfully, “You know me too well.” 

She giggles lightly, “Damn right.” 

He strolls over to their shared dresser and she watches him absentmindedly as he pulls out some clothing, “How long will you be gone this time?” she asks with a pout. 

He shrugs and holds a vest and a pair of slacks, “Not sure how long the station will need me.” 

She sighs and flops back onto her back, “You’re never home.” she complains. 

His face is over hers abruptly and she holds her pout still, “If they need me, I got to go.” 

She blows a raspberry at him, “I might have to tie you down so you can’t escape me.” 

He smirks a little, “The idea is entertaining!” 

Smirking back, she reaches up to caress his face with her fingertips, “You sure I can’t come?” 

“...they don’t like unplanned visitors, I believe I've mentioned this before, no?” 

He pulls away from her hand and starts to dress for work, “Yeah, I know. Still not fair though.” Irene grumbles. 

He chuckles lowly at her and grabs his walking cane when he was finished, “Dear, I will not be gone for too long.” 

She sighs, giving up on keeping him from going and stands up. “Whatever you say.” she hums with a roll of her eyes. 

He grabs her chin abruptly and she finds herself reflected in his eyes again, “Is that sass I’m hearing?” 

Chuckling, she grabs his bowtie and lowers him down to her face. “Hmm, maybe?” 

His eyes sparkled mischievously, “I might have to punish you for that.” 

Her eyes widen at his statement and a smirk broadens on his lips, “Wha-I was not expecting that.” 

He kisses her forehead with a snicker and releases her from his grasp, “Well! I’ll be off to work then! Don’t stay up for me, dearie! You need your beauty rest after all!” he exclaims cheerfully. 

“Right.” she drawls. “Have fun at work.” 

He nods with that dashing grin of his and leaves without another word, she could distantly hear the door close outside their bedroom. Alone and bored within five minutes, she flops back down onto their bed. He works during the day usually. But sometimes he must work the nights too. Lots of people enjoy his voice on the radio. Sometimes she listens to him on there when she misses him, but he doesn’t know that. At some points, she doesn’t see him for a whole day. 

At night when he works, he is never on the radio even though he says he goes to work. She always wonders if the people in charge of him make him do back-up work. That’s the only sound clause, that or he’s cheating on her which she fairly doubts. Alastor is picky about the people he spends time with after all... 

Her thoughts are broken by the sound of someone knocking on a door. Rising from the bed, she travels out of the bedroom and down the hall. Coming to the front door, she opens it to find her friend Maribel standing there. 

A newspaper is shoved in front of Irene as her friend squeals, “Oh my! You are in the paper, Ire!” 

Her friend grabs her in for a bear hug that makes Irene wheeze a little at the strength. “Mari! Can’t...breath!” she gasps out. 

Her friends let her down with a quick ‘sorry’ until she squeals again, “I’m so happy for you! Look I even brought cookies for congrats!” 

Irene stares at the tin and takes it happily, “Aw! You didn’t have to do that, suga’!” Irene gushes. 

She scoots to the side so Maribel could come in and shuts the door after she enters. 

“Is your husband home?” Maribel asks and plops down on the couch nearby. 

Frowning a little, Irene sits down beside her, “No, unfortunately.” 

“That’s a shame, he’s a working man though.” 

Letting out a huff, she reclines further into the cushion. Opening the cookie tin, she takes one out and chomps on the sugar cookie, “I feel like he barely ever has time for me anymore. It’s always work, work, work. He doesn’t even come home until late into the night.” 

Maribel gives her friend a sympathetic look and gives Irene’s shoulder a comforting squeeze, “He can’t help it if they’re making him come in.” 

Finishing the cookie, she drags a hand through her hair, “He said something similar.” 

“Well, there you go then. Now stop moping and get your coat on.” 

Confusion scribbles on her face, “What? Why?” 

Maribel chuckles with a proud look, “I may have organized a celebration party for you...” 

Irene gasps and grabs her friends' hand, “Really!?” 

Maribel nods with a wide smile and Irene does as her friend says in a rush. She should be home before Alastor is, so she decides to not leave a note. 

0-0-0-0-0-0 

Present: 

Irene wakes with a start, her heart thumping out of her chest. Placing a hand there, she takes a couple deep breathes of air. When she finally calms down, she turns to look out her window. The hellish sky was nothing new to her as she slides out of her bed. She drags her fingers through her hair with a tired sigh. Another dream about her human husband deems itself to haunt her every night. She can never remember his voice, however. It’s almost a silent film in her head, she can’t hear the dialogue only can feel the emotions of the moment. She only knew actions and she couldn’t remember his name. Yet, his face is the most handsome and she knows she swooned at the thought of hearing him talk. He is the reason why she is here in the first place after all. Perhaps, hell is simply reminding her of that fact. 

It’s been a good couple of decades since she was even sent down here. She knows her husband must be down here in this hell hole somewhere. But once you descend here, any physical human traits tend to disappear; the small things barely visible if you’re lucky. Her body shape and height are all that remained of her human form. She is thankful that her pale skin is not covered in fur either unlike the majority of the demons living down here. 

The cleanse happened last night, she notices, the clock is back to the number 365 to represent the amount of time till the next one. Such a stupid thing honestly, she never partakes in such a thing. She wasn’t a killer for sick satisfaction. She travels over to her wardrobe and opens it in boredom. Today is luckily a day off from work. She somehow slept through the chaos of the night. She could bet many demon corpses littered the ground in front of her apartment. 

She decides on a rich red dress, it is plain and sits on her hips nicely. She slides some pantyhose on because the first time she decided to wear a dress without one, some bastard found it funny to flip her skirts up. Let’s just say, that the demon didn’t live very long shortly after. She turns on the television after and walks over to the sink. She brushes her teeth as she eyes her crazy pale pink hair. Her feathered red ears hiding underneath the nest of tangles. The sound of a sweet voice interrupts her inspection of herself. 

With the toothbrush in her mouth, she slowly makes her way to the television. The voice is not something you hear every day in hell. She finds an adorable demon on the screen next to Katie Killjoy and Tom Trench from the 666 News Station. Actually, the young demon looks oddly familiar. Searching deep into her memory, she finally recalls the face. 

Irene squeals at the sight of the princess of Hell, Charlie. Oh, it’s been so long since she’s seen the girl. She’s all grown up now, Irene thinks with a soft sniffle. She knew Charlie personally; she was her vocal coach after all. The little cute Hellspawn wanted to learn how to sing well like her. Apparently, she saw a live stream of her singing and Charlie couldn’t help but want to learn when she was younger. She was more ordered to teach Charlie to sing since the royal’s don’t really make ‘requests’ around here. To say she was nervous was the understatement of that year. However, she and Charlie grew quite close to each other during those times spent together. 

“...Hell is my home...” Charlie informs until she is interrupted by something splattering onto her cheek. Irene cringes, recognizing it as blood which the princess wipes away quickly and continues, “...We just went through another extermination. We lost so many souls and it breaks my heart to see my people being slaughtered every year.” she states while standing up from her seat. “And no one is even given a chance!” Charlie exclaims while slamming a fist onto the tabletop with a peeved look and begins to walk around, off the camera eventually, “I can’t stand idly by while the place I live is subjected to such violence. “Sooo, I've been thinking is that there a more humane way to endure overpopulation here in Hell? Perhaps, we can create an alternative way to change souls through...redemption.” 

Irene stares at the television in disbelief. While the idea is fascinating and honestly really clever, it almost sounds...insane or impossible. Frowning at her pupil, she steps over to the sink again and spits out the toothpaste. She rinses her mouth out with water while picking up the conversation on the t.v. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am opening the first of its kind! A hotel that rehabilitates sinners!” Charlie exclaims loudly and Irene walks back over to watch with pity because all that could be heard was silence. She facepalms and massages her face because, in all honesty, it made her almost embarrassed to watch the young girl. “Ya’ know? Because hotels are for people passing through temporarily...” Charlie chuckles nervously. 

Irene couldn’t stand the cringe effort and grabs her hairbrush really quick. She sits down in front of her t.v. to wait for more from her embarrassed pupil. 

“I figured that it would serve a purpose, um-a place where there is redemption...” Charlie rambles with an awkward smile. This girl...she loves her, truly, but this is not the way to present her goal. “...look every single one of you has something good deep down inside. I know you do,” she states until she finally smirks randomly. “Maybe I’m not getting through to you...” Charlie realizes and within a snap, she was on top of a piano. 

Irene perks up, realizing her pupil is about to do a score. Grabbing a piece of paper and pen nearby, she holds it at a ready. Let’s see how well her vocal cords are trained throughout these years she thinks with a slight chuckle. Charlie begins and Irene listens with every fiber of her being. She nods as she writes some things down, making a list of things to work on and the points where she most shined. The princess is even dancing and she smiles while watching her. She’s still so adorable that even her demon side is coming out! 

Once Charlie is done, many of the demons in the room begin to laugh intensely. Irene frowns at their disrespect for the princess—who did considerably well in her opinion. Then again, no demon would take any of this seriously. The woman, Katie Killjoy, starts to insult Charlie, making fun of her. Scowling at the stupid bitch of a demon, whose head is clearly filled with air, mocks repeatedly; Irene stands up with a low growl, anyone who dares to insult her pupil clearly needs a lesson. 

Taking the brush to her hair, she detangles it with frustration while tuning in. She’s going to check on Charlie as soon as possible, plus she misses her a tiny bit. Honestly, she’s really curious about this whole redemption thing. With a sigh, she puts down the brush once her hair is silky smooth. She wants to be forgiven for what she did to her husband. She was trapped in her own fear at the time and for his safety. 

Dabbing on some make-up, the sound of fighting could be heard from the speakers. She finds that Charlie has indeed started a brawl with that stick bitch of a reporter and she smirks deviously at her pupil. 

Slipping on her slightly heeled flats, she turns off the television and grabs her long pink trench coat. Time to go find her cute pupil at this ‘Happy Hotel’.


	2. To Stay or Go?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your comments, guys! Happy to know some of you enjoyed the chapter. This is the pilot chapter, I didn't want to break it up into different chapters so it's a long one. Hope you don't mind. 
> 
> Irene has some input in there, so you'll have to search for it if you don't want to read all of the pilot dialogue. 
> 
> From this point onward, Irene's relationships will grow in the hotel and I plan to bring other characters in from Vivziepop if I can. I didn't really know much about the show besides from what I've seen on Instagram and the pilot. Irene's a little similar to Mimzy I realized, so I have an idea of what to do about it. Perhaps, the future drama between the two characters? Fight over Alastor? We'll see ;)
> 
> Thanks for reading guys and for the support! Have a nice day! :)

It took Irene quite a while to even find this place, it was on the other side of town. Pulling up in her car, she parks in front of the building. Once the car was off, she steps out and shuts the door behind her. To say the building is impressively tall would be true, it towers over her in an overwhelming way. Shifting her backpack on her shoulders that she grabbed before she left, she walks up to the front door and knocks. After a couple of minutes, the front door eventually opens but very slowly Irene notes. 

The princess peeks through the crack of the door until she opens it with a full swing when catching sight of her. Charlie stares at her in surprise which slowly morphs into one of pure excitement. 

“Ire!” Charlie squeals happily with a large grin. 

Irene smiles back, happy to see her pupil. “Hello, kid.” 

Charlie grabs her into a death hug and Irene returns it with enough strength. “What you are doing here?!” 

Irene pulls back, “Well, I saw a certain someone on the screen.” 

Charlie blushes in embarrassment with a slight chuckle, “Oh...you saw that, huh?” 

Irene shakes her head in exasperation, “Hun, you’re bonafide crazy.” 

Charlie pouts a little and a feminine voice interrupts their conversation, “Who is it, Charlie?” 

Irene peers over her pupil’s shoulder to find another young demon girl who had gray skin, extremely long hair and had an ‘x’ over her left eye. The other girl meets her gaze with narrowed eyes and crosses her arms. 

“Vaggie! Meet my old vocal coach, Irene! Irene, meet my girlfriend, Vaggie!” Charlie exclaims while moving out of the way to let her in. 

“Vocal coach? I didn’t know you had one.” Vaggie sends her a confused look. 

Charlie laughs with a sweat drop, “It slipped my mind.” 

Irene steps toward the young demon, Vaggie, with a smile. “Hi, nice to meet you.” 

“Nice to meet you too.” Vaggie smiles as well. 

“Did I come at the wrong time?” Irene asks. 

Vaggie winces a little, “Well-” 

“Nope! You’re more than welcome anytime!” Charlie interrupts with stars in her eyes. 

Charlie grabs her by the hand and leads her further into the front foyer of the hotel. It certainly is run down Irene observes. The further into the room she gets another demon appears in her vision. There is a spider demon, one she feels like she recognizes from somewhere. 

“This is Angel Dust; you’ve probably heard of him!” Charlie points at the spider demon who is sucking on a popsicle. 

Irene snaps her fingers in recognition, “Ah! Yes, I believe I have. Some of my patrons have mentioned you.” 

He smiles slyly and extends one of his arms to her, “Most likely good things.” 

Irene chuckles with a smile and shakes his hand politely, “You could say that.” 

The atmosphere is interrupted by a musical knock on the door and everyone turns their attention toward it. Charlie looks back at us, unsure of what to do before walking toward the front door again. 

“Maybe it’s a customer?” Irene suggests. 

Angel snorts on the couch next to Vaggie, “As if, did you see the broadcast today?” 

Vaggie glares heatedly at Angel then, “No thanks to you!” she growls. 

He shrugs carelessly and the slam of the door greets our ears. Everyone waits as anticipation fills the tension until another slam from the door is repeated. Charlie walks over to them again with an uncertain expression. 

“Hey, Vaggie!” Charlie calls out, sounding nervous. 

Vaggie sighs tiredly, “What?” she asks with a drawn tone. 

“The Radio demon is at the door.” Charlie states while drawing a wide grin with her fingers on her lips for emphasize. 

“What?!” Vaggie exclaims while lurching forward. 

Angel takes the popsicle out his mouth for a moment, “Uh..who?” he asks in question. 

Irene puts a knuckle to her chin in thought, “Oh, I’ve heard about that demon.” she mumbles. 

Charlie slaps her hands on her cheeks, trying to not freak out. “What should I do?!” she cries. 

“Well, don’t let him in!” Vaggie booms with wide eyes. 

Charlie bites her finger anxiously and turns back to look at the door. She disappears from their sights and Irene sighs lightly, “She’s goin’ to open it.” 

Vaggie stands up from the couch with a dark look as the demon’s voice enunciates itself from the hallway to the front door. Irene quickly follows, ready to fight if the man is going to attack her pupil and her friends. 

The sound of the tube radio greets Irene’s ears, and she couldn’t help but feel reminiscent. It’s been a good while since she’s heard that particular sound. Irene comes around the corner to find Vaggie holding a spear in the Radio demon’s face who wore a ginormous grin that held jagged razorblade teeth. He was dressed in a red suit, most definitely from the early 1920s. He held a cane with his assemble and a monocle compliments his eye. His hair was unique, to say the least, but most demons have those kinds of attributes about them. She couldn’t help but notice his fluffy ears and antlers though she thinks with an inward snicker. 

He continues to smile as Vaggie growls out some demon language with a narrowed gaze at the demon, ready to fight him if it came down to it. “I know your game. And I’m not going to let you hurt anyone here, you pompous cheesy talk show shit lord.” Vaggie threatens. 

Irene silently chuckles, coming closer to the group, remaining silent in her steps. The Radio demon simply flickers his gaze toward her for a moment until it’s back on Vaggie. 

“Dear, if I wanted to hurt anyone here!” he begins with a menacing grin and taps the spear away from his face, downward. His eyes narrow and the pair start to flicker, dials appearing as pupils. He tilts his head in a creepy way, “I would’ve done so already.” he informs with a deep dark tone, almost raspy because of the radio effect, his smile gradually becoming more lethal. It makes goosebumps appear all over her skin, an abrupt shiver going down her back as symbols fill the rapidly changing air around him that darkens with every word. 

Oh, her stomach hurt a little bit. She hasn’t felt his way in quite a while either; not that she misses it. He snaps back to his normal(?) self, within a blink. “Now! I am here because I want to help!” he announces with a slight bow towards Vaggie and Charlie. 

A definite pause of silence continues for a moment until Charlie speaks, “Say what now?” she asks incredulously. 

She could hear a crowd cheering in the radio somehow, she found his power interesting. His voice certainly captivating too. “Help!” he shouts while lurching forward and snapping back again with a laugh, raising his cane/mic to his mouth. “Hello?! Is this thing on?!” he asks rhetorically. He taps the mic with his other hand, “Testing! Testing!” he repeats. 

“Well, I could hear you loud and clear!” the mic shouts back. Irene sweat drops, this man...he’s insane, right? Demon’s come in a plethora of personalities, many of them alter when living in Hell. Most of the time, their personalities increase in size. She could practically feel the sarcasm in his voice when he talks, he’s a bunch of things she could tell right away. 

Charlie gives Vaggie an unsure side glance, “Um...you want to...help withhh?” she asks hesitantly, making sure she heard him right. 

He suddenly disappears and reappears behind them in a shadow until his physical form is apparent. He wraps his arms around Vaggie’s and Charlie’s shoulders before letting go just as quick, “This ridiculous thing you’re trying to do! This hotel! I want to help you run it!” 

“Butttt, why?” Charlie asks in confusion. 

Irene decides to lay low in the back for a moment, trying to figure this demon’s character out. She’s heard about the Radio demon. How he’s a despicable character, what he does/did, and his mystery background. She can’t put her finger on it, but he reminds her of someone almost. She’s super curious about what he did in the 1920s to even end up in Hell; he didn’t look like your stereotypical demon down here. 

He simply laughs at Charlie's question, “Why does anyone do anything? Sheer, absolute boredom!” he exclaims cheerfully while holding his face with his non-disappearing smile. “I’ve lacked inspiration for decades,” he informs and purposely puts his elbow on top of Vaggie’s head, resting his head on his hand. “My work became montaged, lacking focus...AIMLESS!” he shouts at the end and practically shoves Vaggie against the wall in emphasize. 

Irene scowls at the demon, noticing his play, Vaggie’s right to not trust him. She knows what a liar is like, damn well learned her lesson. She walks over to Vaggie and cleans her up from her crash with the wall; the girl gives her a nod of thanks, but a menacing look was directed at him. 

“...I have come to crave a new form of entertainment!” he booms with a laugh. 

Irene creeps closer with Vaggie, to make sure she doesn’t get thrown again. “Does getting into a fistfight with a reporter count as entertainment?” Charlie asks with a helpless shrug. 

“Hun, everyone was laughing, if you didn’t notice.” Irene comments with a wince. 

Charlie sags in shame and the Radio demon laughs again, “It’s the purest kind, my dear. As the lady said over there, everyone was amused.” he points out while nodding his head at Irene. “Reality! True passion!” he boasts randomly while waving his arms out. Irene sweat drops again, his character is most...um-ecstatic. “After all,” he starts and turns around, to only look back at them over his shoulder until he turns back toward us again. “The world is a stage and the stage is a world of entertainment.” he announces with a leering grin. 

A sharp pain sparks the forefront of her mind abruptly and she presses a palm to the throbbing area. Her ears were ringing intensely but she withholds making a noise of discomfort. Where has she heard that before? 

No one notices her brief moment of pain and she takes a gulp of air when it passes. “So, does this mean you think it’s possible to rehabilitate a demon?” Charlie asks with a hopeful voice and smile. 

That statement seems to truly amuse him, and he waves a hand in front of her face in denial with a string of laughter. “Of course not! That’s wacky nonsense! Redemption, oh the non-existent of humanity. No, no, no, no, I don’t think there’s anything left that could save such loathsome sinners. The chance given was the life they lived before. The punishment is this! There is no undoing what is done.” he relays hauntedly, ending with a twirl gesturing around the room. 

“So, why do you want to help if you don’t believe in my cause?” Charlie asks as his grin widens. Irene crosses her arms while regarding him with narrowed eyes. He most definitely has a reason, and it has nothing to do with helping her she thinks with a frown. 

“Consider it an investment in ongoing entertainment for myself,” he persuades and puts a hand on her shoulder, pulling her in for a side hug. “I want to watch the scum of the world struggle,” he hints and gives Charlie a twirl until he pulls away slightly. “To climb up the hill of betterment, to only repeatedly trip and tumble down to the fiery pit of failure.” he expresses darkly, and Irene tosses a worried look toward Vaggie. 

Was this man a sociopath in his human life? She wanders with a twitchy eye because it would make one hundred percent sense. 

Charlie stares at him warily, “Righttttt.” she drawls and takes his hand off her. 

“Yes indeedy. I see big things coming your way and who better to help you than I?” he asks while dragging her away from everyone. 

Irene stares at the two in the distance, concern practically pouring out of her leftover heart for her pupil. “Is it just me or is this guy...” she thinks out loud. 

“Crazy?” Vaggie suggests. 

“Something like that.” Irene agrees and sits down on the arm of the couch. 

“Soo, what’s the deal with smiles over there?” Angel asks with his own wary glance at the red demon while pointing at him. 

Irene and Vaggie send him an incredulous look, “Hold up, you’ve never heard of him?” Irene asks, a bit dumbfounded. 

“You’ve been here longer than me and I’ve heard of him.” Vaggie states. 

Angel Dust simply shrugs cluelessly and Irene wonders how he’s been able to live down here for so long. 

Vaggie goes on a spiel about the Radio demon and Irene figures out his name. Alastor...why does that also ring a bell? She tosses the question out, thinking she heard it from someone talking about him. She listens thoroughly as Vaggie explains the history of Alastor and what he is most known for. 

Vaggie ends up getting cut off from Angel who appears bored by the information. “Ya’ done?” he asks. Suddenly, he starts chuckling with a goofy smile, pointing at Alastor. “He looks like a strawberry pimp.” 

Irene snorts, finding the image quite humorous. “Would his cane be the toothpick?” Irene jokes with a small smirk. 

Angel gives her his smirk and chortles, “Oh, you’re funny, I like you.” 

Vaggie gives them an unamused look and crosses her arms, “Well, I don’t trust him.” 

“Well, to be fair, do you trust any man, any men? Men.” he huffs with a humored smirk. 

Vaggie sends him a scowl and gets up from the couch to pull Charlie away from Alastor. Irene finds the demon interesting but also...familiar; she’s not sure if it’s in a good way or not. Sliding off the couch arm, she approaches Alastor who is staring at a family painting of Charlie's parents and herself. She stands by his side silently and turns to also examine it. 

“By chance, I was wondering if you were born in the early 1900s.” Irene wonders out loud as she clasps her hands in front of her. 

She could feel his gaze on her, the static from the radio increasing slightly. “My dear, you are correct, I am astounded!” he replies as the sound of an audience applauding could be heard from him. 

She hums a little and gives him a brief smile, “What a coincidence! So am I!” 

“How fascinating! It is rare to see our generation down here. Everyone’s perished by now!” he exclaims while laughing. 

She shrugs half-heartedly, “Sounds like a them problem.” 

“Agreed!” he boasts as his pupils shrink for a moment. 

“My word, dare I say hearing you is like a breath of fresh air. You sound just like the tube, I used to listen to it all the time!” she exclaims with a warm smile, brushing a piece of her pink hair back. The tube always reminds her of her husband, but in a good way. 

“Glad to know I make someone comfortable for once!” he laughs again, his grin widening. She couldn’t tell if it was a good smile or not, best to be cautious around this man. 

Charlie interrupts them momentarily as she sneaks next to Irene’s side, “Okayyy. So, Al’, you’re sketchy as fuck and you clearly see what I’m trying to do here as a joke.” she reasons to Alastor and starts to pace back in forth. Irene catches sight of Alastor’s face, only to be a little creeped out; it darkened quite a bit and some strange symbols start to surround him. Are those...voodoo symbols? She startles, remembering how her husband apparently dabbled in those arts. She narrows her eyes at him, there’s no way this is him, is it? She’ll need more time to figure that out she thinks in disbelief. 

The symbols disappear as quickly as they appeared when Charlie gives him a narrowed side glance, “...but I don’t. I think everyone deserves a chance to prove they can be better.” Charlie informs with a proud smile. “So! I’m taking your offer to help with the condition that there be no trickster voodoo strings attached.” she attempts to demand. 

Irene smirks a little, finding her pupil adorable trying to sound authoritative. Alastor waves his cane/mic around until it’s in his other arm as he outstretches the other toward Charlie. A green light emits from the ground in the process and howling wind could be heard around them as he waits for her to take his hand. “So, it’s a deal then?” 

Instead, Charlie swats his hand away with a panicked look, “Nope!” she shouts, not interested in that type of deal at all. “No shaking, no deals! I-” she starts, not appearing to sure how to approach this topic with a thoughtful hum. She peers back at him, trying to gain some confidence Irene notices. “As princess of Hell and heir to the throne, I-uh, hereby order that you help with this hotel for as long as you desire.” she states. “Sound fair?” 

Irene stares at her pupil and pinches the bridge of her nose. Did she ever partake in something like royal lessons? She loves Charlie, really, but this girl has got to need to have some type of help in speeches. She is surprised Alastor is so patient with the girl. 

Alastor holds his chin in thought with a hum, “Fair enough.” he deems with a shrug as his cane/mic disappears. 

“Cool beans.” Charlie smiles in relief. 

Irene gives her shoulder a squeeze as Alastor walks away from them. ‘Good job’ she mouths to her with a thumbs up. Charlie perks up at her encouragement and smiles happily to being praised. 

Everyone watches Alastor in curious silence as he hums, surveying the front foyer out. His back was to Vaggie and he turns abruptly, feeling her gaze the most. She looks away with a scowl scribbled on her face. He walks closer to her and puts a finger under her chin, “Smile my dear!” he shouts and Vaggie’s eyes widen in surprise until it quickly turns into anger. She growls lowly in response and acts like she was about to hit him, but he backs away with a wagging finger, “You know, you’re never fully dressed without one!” he exclaims and starts to walk away with that grin of his. 

He hums a tune and Irene can hear it repeat in her head. What song is that? It sounds so familiar. She hums to it herself in her mind, trying to discover its origin. She watches curiously as he stops singing the tune and wanders back over to Charlie. “So where is your hotel staff?” he asks. 

“Uh...well...” she starts and looks at Vaggie with a wincing smile. 

Alastor chuckles while looking at the girl, fixing his monocle too. “Ohhh. You’re going to need more than that.” he mentions while walking over to Angel Dust. 

“And what can you do my feminine fellow?” Alastor asks with a questioning position. 

Angel smiles cheerfully, “I can suck your dick.” he states blatantly. 

Irene sputters until a laugh comes out, she couldn’t hold it. The look on Alastor’s face was priceless! Alastor laughs, none of it filled with humor. “Hah! No!” he rejects and walks away swiftly from that conversation. 

“Your loss.” Angel shrugs. 

He wanders over to her right after, seeming actually curious. “I hope you offer more valuable services! Is there anything you can do?” he asks. 

Irene was about to answer before Alastor is shoved away from in front of her. Charlie takes his place and began to practically emit sparkles as she grabs Irene’s hands into her own with a huge smile. “What can she do? What can she do?! Do you not know who she is?!” Charlie squeals with joy. Charlie starts bouncing on her feet, her excitement barely contained. Irene sweat drops, not sure what to do or say. “This is the one and only best singer in Hell! Ire!” she squeals again. 

Irene blushes intensely, hating it when others compliment her. She goes by a stage name usually, Ire. She forces her hands out of Charlie’s overpowering grip with an awkward chuckle as Alastor stares at her with a broadening smile, “O-Oh, I’m not that good.” 

Charlie gasps as if the words hurt her personally, “If my parents deem you worthy after hearing you, I believe that makes you the best!” Charlie shouts. 

Irene scratches her cheek bashfully, “I don’t deserve such kind words. But yes, I do sing, but I’m not here to work. Charlie, there is something I must discuss with you later.” 

Charlie smiles with a nod, “Okay! Will do!” 

Alastor chuckles to himself and begins to walk away from them. “Well, this just won’t do!” he exclaims while walking over to the fireplace. He summons his cane and looks back at them, “I suppose I can cash in a few favors to liven things up.” he proclaims and snaps his fingers. 

A whirlwind of fire grows larger out of the fireplace and Irene couldn’t help but stare at it in awe. It disappears and a black distorted figure appears in the fireplace with a ‘plop’. Alastor steps toward it and bends down, picking the thing up with his closed smile. The thing in his grasp continues to smoke until a single big eyeball snaps open. It makes an odd sound as it’s gaze flickers to them and Irene stares at it a bit dumbfounded. She’s never seen something like that through her time here. 

Eventually, the smoke disappears and with a ‘poof’, a tiny female demon appears, and she couldn’t help but find the demon cute as it swings in Alastor’s grip. 

“This little darling is Nifty!” Alastor informs and releases her from his grasp. 

She falls to the floor, practically faceplanting but she stands up fast with a smile. “Hi! I’m Nifty! It’s nice to meet you! It’s been a while since I've made new friends.” she tells them as her single eye roams everyone. “Why are you all women?” she asks abruptly and dashes across the floor in a flicker, picking up Charlie somehow. “Are there any men here?!” Nifty shrieks in question. 

Vaggie reacted negatively by pulling out a spear in warning towards the tiny thing. Irene doesn’t know how to interrupt this whole damn fiasco she got into. 

“Sorry! That’s rude!” Nifty apologizes and sets Charlie back down. “Oh man! This place is filthy!” she exclaims and starts to scurry around, tidying things up around the room. “It really needs a ladies touch which is weird because you’re all ladies no offense.” Nifty points out while killing a spider nearby. 

She starts to clean automatically, pulling out a duster and tidying the place up in seconds flat. If only Irene had that much motivation to clean her home, she thinks with a sigh. 

A green light flashes nearby and everyone turns to look in the direction it’s omitting from. 

“Hah! Read em’ and weep boys!” someone exclaims gleefully. A bunch of symbols appears around the demon who comes into view as if he were being transported. “Woah-What the fuck is this?” the demon questions while examining the area until his gaze lands on Alastor who is now in front of him. “You!” the demon cries with a glare, pointing a clawed finger at him. 

“Ah! Husker! My good friend! Glad you could make it!” Alastor cheers as the sound of an audience applauding in the background as he puts a hand on Husker’s shoulder. 

“Don’t you Husker me, you son of a bitch.” he rebukes, removing Alastor’s hand away from him. “I was about to win the whole damn pot!” 

The money on the poker table fizzles away when Husker gestures to it behind him. “Good to see you too!” 

Husker facepalms in response to Alastor, “What the hell do you want with me this time?” he asks. 

Alastor pulls him in for a side hug, pressing their cheeks together. “My friend, I am doing some charity work, so I took it upon myself to volunteer your services. I hope that’s okay.” 

“Are you shittin’ me?” 

Alastor hums for a second until he pulls a gullible smile, “No, I don’t think so!” 

Husker pushes him away with an angry scowl, “You thought it would be some kind of big fucking riot just to pull me out of nowhere!” he protests while pointing at Alastor repeatedly who only dusts himself off as if he were actually dirty. “You think I’m some kind of clown?!” 

The red demon stands there with a stupid smile on his face, “Maybe.” he hints as his smile turns into his normal toothy grin followed by the sound of laughter as he walks away. 

“I ain’t no fucking charity job.” Husker growls while crossing his arms. 

Alastor appears behind him abruptly and grabs him for another side hug, “Well I figured you would be perfect face to man the front desk of this fine establishment. With your charming smile and welcoming energy, this job was made for you.” Alastor persuades and forces a grin on Husker's face, only to have it sag back into a frown. “Don’t worry,” he starts off and let's go of the gambler demon, walking over to the bar. “...my friend I can make this more welcoming! If you wish...” Alastor offers as he makes a bottle of cheap booze appear on the counter, his radio voice going out for a second. 

Irene watches humorously, finding Husker to be quite funny. Reminds her of the bartenders at her own business she thinks with a smile. 

“What? You think you can buy me with a wink and some cheap booze?” he growls out and grabs the bottle off the counter. “Well, yeah can.” Husker claims and stalks off, drowning the bottle to go behind the bar. 

Well, that didn’t take long. 

Vaggie runs out in front of them, standing in front of the bar. “Hey! Hey! Hey! No bar and no alcohol! This is supposed to be a place that discourages sin!” she protests, pointing at the bar behind her repeatedly in emphasize. “Not some type of mouth-man-brothel-mancave!” 

Angel Dust disappears from their side to only attack Vaggie down to the ground, “Shut up! Shut. Up!” Angel shouts, grabbing her shoulders. “We are keeping this!” Angel argues back and gets off of her to go seduce Husker. Charlie paces over there as well to welcome Husker to the hotel. 

Irene sighs, maybe she shouldn’t try to redeem herself. She’ll be stuck with these cute idiots 24/7. Vaggie is the most sense worthy out of the demons here; good thing Charlie has her, she’s great. 

“So! What do you think?” Alastor asks Charlie out of nowhere. 

Wait, where did he go earlier? She ponders while looking around the room. She’ll have to keep a close eye on him. 

Charlie gives him an ear-splitting grin while getting off the counter she was sitting on, “This is amazing!” 

“It’s...okay.” Vaggie states, looking incredibly displeased. 

He grabs him in for a side hug with a laugh, “This is going to be very entertaining!” 

Vaggie slips from his hold, not liking him touching her and he pushes her aside abruptly again. Irene catches her with her own frown. This man likes to abuse this girl, doesn’t he? Vaggie nods her thanks as Alastor starts...a song? Irene’s eye twitches in disbelief not expecting this. His outfit changes with his powers and he dresses Charlie in an old 1920’s outfit; she looks so adorable! 

He grabs Charlie and tosses her up in the air, the room changing colors that kind of make Irene’s eyes hurt. It is practically neon in there. He catches Charlie and everyone else stands in a corner, not too sure what the hell is going on. Irene couldn’t but find the song good and was tabbing her foot to it; trying to contain her own singing and dancing. He snaps his fingers and we’re all wearing different outfits or some of them are altered. Irene smiles as a bow is added to her hair and her shoes were heels now. 

Some voodoo’s with instruments come out of nowhere and start playing instruments. Irene surveys them with contempt; who is this man, really? She always thought voodoo was a myth, but her husband dabbled with the dark magic which seemingly exists somehow. 

He grabs everyone into a giant hug and Irene feels quite squished, so she breaks out of it. He walks around singing and messes with everyone, even swatting Vaggie’s bottom. Irene smirks, enjoying this song very much, such groove. She holds her hand out to Alastor expectedly, hoping he would take it. He sees this and grabs it willingly, dancing with her wildly down the hallway. It may have been a while since she was used to this type of swing, but her memory won’t quit her now! She matches every step with him with a laugh and his grin widens as he twirls her around. 

He eventually let’s go of her to swap with Charlie and Irene doesn’t mind a bit, having too much fun. He starts swinging Charlie around until he lets go of her, ready to voice his last verse; before an explosion occurs behind him, the wall crumbling from the force. Everyone stares behind him in surprise and creep closer. 

Everyone looks outside the wall in confusion and Vaggie takes out her spear just in case. What everyone finds is a blimp in the sky. Walking out of the hole in the wall, everyone stops below the blimp that hovers. 

“Well, well, well. Look who’s harboring the striped freak!” the male demon who represents a snake exclaims from an engine (?). Who the hell was this guy? The snake demon continues, “We meet yet again Alastor!” 

“Do I know you?” Alastor asks, but Irene had a feeling he was playing stupid. 

The snake demon deflates with that question and turns a bit peeved, “Oh, yes you do!” he shouts and walks back inside the blimp. 

Irene feels worry settle on her brow, not quite liking this scenario. Everyone could die or Alastor crushes his opponent, two options. A giant weapon swings down from underneath the blimp and Irene shuffles back a couple of steps instinctually. She was not one for fights unless she was pissed off. No one lives during that mindset. The canon-like thing begins to start up, glowing an ominous pink and Alastor simply snaps his fingers. A ginormous portal with black tentacles opens out of the ground randomly and her eyes widen in shock. 

She could feel the power thrumming in the air practically, not to mention all around Alastor; he’s fucking terrifying! The tentacles run through the blimp-like nothing and explosions erupt around it. Irene takes a sneak peek at Alastor’s expression, his eyes were like that of a radio’s as his fingers do all the work. He closes his fist eventually as a bunch of symbols around him materialize. His face grows more sadistic and more joyful then she’s seen it today. The blimp explodes finally as the black tentacles crush it all together. 

Irene flinches and covers her eyes, not wanting any debris to hit her. She lowers her arms to find a scary expression on Alastor’s face that makes her shiver involuntarily. This man is incredibly dangerous, she’s going to have to be careful around him. Everyone stares at him with wide eyes and silence, his power surprising all of them. 

He snaps out of whatever trance he was in and turns toward everyone, “Well, I’m starved! Who wants some jambalaya?!” he exclaims and asks as he walks toward everyone. All of them separate to make a path from him to walk down between them. “My mother once showed me a wonderful recipe for jambalaya. In fact, it nearly killed her!” he jokes with a laugh and everyone follows in silence, still getting over what had happened just now. “You could say the kick was right out of Hell.” 

He continues to laugh as everyone follows. She gives Vaggie a concerned look and she returns it. The Radio demon is an enigma she wasn’t sure she could handle alone. She eventually smiles, to kill him with kindness would be a good way to get on his good side. The most Southern approach is full of smiles and food. 

“I know how to make a mean cornbread to go along with it!” she exclaims behind him. 

He turns to give her a side smile, “That sounds perfect, indeed!” he praises lightly as everyone follows him inside.


	3. Confessing Sins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, here's the latest chapter! I hope you like it! 
> 
> WARNING: There are mentions of a trigger scene, having to do with rape. It is very brief and does not go into much detail, but I felt the need to point that out.
> 
> Thank you for your comments guys, I really appreciate them. I think I have an addiction to writing this fanfic which is really bad because I have a college exam on Monday that I haven't studied much for. Hahaaaa...it's not good. ^^;
> 
> Enjoy!

After the somewhat awkward and honestly, good dinner. Charlie leads Irene to her office with a smile.

"So, what did you need to speak to me about?" Charlie asks while pushing the door open.

Irene follows her in and shuts the door calmly behind her, "I apologize for my abrupt visit, it really seems I have come at the worst of times."

She takes a seat in front of the desk and Charlie wanders over to the other side with a small frown. "You're not bugging me! I'm happy you came! This only makes me more curious as to why though."

Irene watches Charlie take a seat in her own chair and she leans back in hers with a tired sigh, "A demon's background is all they have here. It's personal and filled with the ugly things they did in their mortal life."

Charlie scoots forward until a sparkle ignites in her eyes, "No way. No way! You came here for redemption, didn't you!?" Charlie shouts with a giddy smile.

Irene sweat drops and swallows past the lump in her throat, "K-Keep it down! I don't need everyone knowing!" Irene cries in embarrassment.

Charlie squeals and jumps out of her chair, bouncing with excitement, "I can't believe it! Someone wants redemption, my first patient!" she shrieks with a wide grin.

Irene lets Charlie get out her buzzing energy in silence, not sure what to say. She can hardly believe it herself, for even believing in this option. "Hun, calm down!" Irene exclaims, feeling more nervous and wanting to leave more than ever; her actions making her most doubtful.

Charlie snaps out of it with a slightly embarrassed chuckle, "Whoopsie." she apologizes and sits back down in her seat with a calmer expression. "Okay! Why do you want to be redeemed?" she asks finally.

The question stumps Irene and she stills in her spot. Why...? She looks down at her lap as her mind races with reasons as to why. She fists her dress with agonistic memories. Her husband, murdering and doing the unspeakable. Soaked hands in dripping blood, not her own.

"I..." she starts off, only to cut herself off with a flinch. She doesn't know if she can do this.

A hand on her shoulder startles her from her thoughts and she whips her gaze up to meet Charlie's sympathetic look. Irene didn't even hear her get up.

"It's okay, admitting something can be harder than the thought of previously." Charlie encourages with a smile. "If you want to get better, I need a general base of what kind of sins you committed. It's a process."

Irene gives her a pained look, not wanting to think about it. "...I did two things to end up here." she mutters with a side glance.

Charlie removes her hand from her shoulder and sits back down in her chair. She stays silent to be respectful and patient. She twirls her hair in thought, her sins...were a subject she absolutely loathed. Taking a deep breath, she nods to herself, finding the need to confess them suddenly. To get them out of her wounded heart.

"I killed someone and then I killed myself." she mutters under her breath with a dark expression.

Irene didn't want to know what Charlie's face must look like. Probably disgusted, maybe even disappointed in her. She dares to look up only to find a warm look on her face and Irene stares in shock.

"Good job, Ire. You have taken the first step to redemption."

Something wet lands on her hand and she glances down to find a water droplet. Confused to where it came from, she watches as other lands on her dress, staining it briefly. Reaching up, Irene feels that her cheeks are also wet, and she pulls away looking at her smeared hands. "I'm...crying?"

"Yes, you must regret it a lot. Angel Dust didn't really care to admit his, but that's the kind of attitude he throws up to cover how he really feels." Charlie admits with a little laugh.

She sniffles and wipes at her eyes, "I-I," she gasps out. "I regret everything I did to even have met that man, but I-I still love him so much!" she cries with a sob, curling into herself.

Charlie's chair scoots back harshly and her footsteps come closer to Irene. Charlie wraps her arms around her, bring Irene in for a hug to her chest. "Ssh. It's okay, it's alright. Let it all out, Ire." she whispers against her head.

Irene nods continuously and hugs Charlie back with another sob. "I want to go back! I want to fix everything I did! I want to go back in time and make my past self refuse that idiotic man!"

Charlie rubs her back soothingly as she cries into the person hugging her. When her sniffles and sobs turn to hiccups, Charlie pulls back to look down at her, "We're going to fix you right up, Ire!" 

"How?" Irene asks, not believing her one bit.

Charlie let's go and walks over to her desk. She opens a drawer and picks up a scroll. "With my redemption plan, of course!" she announces with a grin.

Irene sneaks a tissue off the desk and blots her eyes, "Does that even work?"

Her heart hurt so much; she was ready for a nap already. Charlie winces a little before she puts it back, "You're the first one to try. You'll be my guinea pig for the meantime. Is that alright?"

Irene bites her lip indecisively until she nods, "I suppose so. Maybe something good will come out of it."

Charlie smiles at her, "That's the spirit!"

Irene smiles back, she felt really light. Getting that off her chest felt amazing, she's never told anyone that before and she's happy it was Charlie who listened to her. "Thanks, dear, really."

Charlie paces over to the door and opens it for them, "Of course! Now, let's get you a room to stay in!"

Irene nods with determination, ready to try and make herself better. To heal these old scabbed wounds sounds terrific and honestly, if talking about past life made her feel lighter in the end; she is willing to take the chance that this could work.

Getting from the chair, she follows her pupil out the door. Charlie leads them to the elevator (A/N: I'm assuming there's one, hopefully.) and pushes floor two. The elevator takes them up and delivers them to the right floor.

"Do I need to earn my keep?" Irene asks eventually as she eyes many of the cobwebs in the hallway and overall dust; this place needs a lot of hard work to shine.

Charlie shakes her head no as she leads them down the hallway, past many doors. "No, because you're a patient here now. I don't want any stress on you so your road to redemption can come easier."

Irene frowns a little, "Hun, I have money if you need some. This place looks like it needs a handful of touch-ups. How about letting me be your patron?"

Charlie stops at a door labeled room 204 and takes out a key ring from her pocket, "My patron? I don't want to make you do that. You're my teacher, that's a little odd, right?"

"I'm your old teacher first off. And you rather have that porn actor down there who already messed up as a patron?" she asks, pointing down the hallway.

Charlie winces as she finds the key she is looking for and unlocks the door. She pushes it open and steps inside, switching on the lights as she does so. "Eh, well, now that you mention it..."

Irene steps into the bedroom and takes it in slowly. It is decent, red-crowned wallpaper hung all around followed by black borders. A poster double bed sat against the wall and there was a single window by the dresser. A television sat on a stand in front of the bed and she could find a door not too far, concluding that is the bathroom.

"How about I perform a fundraiser for you?" Irene offers and examines the room curiously with her hands clasped behind her back.

Charlie gasps, "A-A fundraiser?! You would do that for me!?"

Irene smiles knowingly and twirls toward her pupil, "It's the least I could do for my struggling pupil, not the mention future ruler of Hell one day."

Charlie squeals excitedly and grabs her in a death hug, "You're the best!"

Irene laughs lightly and pushes her away a little, "No need to remind me."

She calms down as a confused look crosses her face suddenly, "Wait, how are you going to afford a fundraiser?"

Irene blinks at her, "I have been around for how long? Do you know how much money I make for simply having 'the best voice in Hell'?" she quotes with her fingers.

"You're so famous, but it's been a while since you've sung, right?" Charlie asks, a bit unsure.

Irene nods her confirmation, "Yes, I took a break because some of those leery demons were becoming annoying. To the point, I had to kill a couple for trying to touch me inappropriately. Most of my fan's probably think I've died. It's been around ten years since I last performed?"

Charlie's eyes flash red in anger, "What?! They tried to rape you?!" she hisses loudly.

Irene sweat drops at her pupil, acting like her deceased protective husband, "Er, they tried, but I killed them of course." she sneers at the thought.

Charlie calms down with a cheery smile, "Well, that's good!"

"Anyways, that's not the point, if I host a fundraiser that says I'll be performing; we'll be racking in so much cash." she smirks at the thought.

She never really cared for money; she is cheap herself even when her father spoiled her as a child. She came from a rich family after all. Material items never meant much to her.

"Oh! I can't wait!" Charlie squeals with excitement. "I should go tell Vaggie about the progress! She'll be super happy and not as stressed now!"

"I suppose I'll head back to my apartment and grab my stuff while you do that."

Charlie nods and begins to leave the bedroom, but Irene calls out for her before she could leave. "And Charlie!"

She turns last second with a tilt of her head, "Yes?"

Irene comes up to her, "Don't trust, Alastor. I don't care what he says or does. I know a liar when I see one. He's playing some type of game."

Charlie frowns a little, "I know. It's just we can use all the help we can get, and I believe he can come around."

Irene sighs at that, not believing that in a second flat. "Just stay cautious."

Charlie nods and leaves afterward, Irene stares at the empty spot in front of her. Things were certainly turning around in her daily life. It feels nice to have a change, Hell can be repetitive.

Deciding to head out as well, she closes the door behind her and memorizes the number for later. Time to go home and grab her stuff, its time to learn the new steps of this unfamiliar dance. 

0-0-0-0-0

It took her quite a long while to pack all her stuff up. She had a lot more than she thought, she should've asked for some help but too late now. She pays the owner a late fee for moving out so abruptly and signs the paper relinquishing the place. Going back to her car, she gets into the driver's seat and reeves it up.

She's not going to lie, the idea of singing again made her a little scared. When she sings, her powers tend to show themselves along with her demon side. She is a bird demon; she develops more feathers with a vibrant red hue. Wings attach themselves to her back when she is really into the song emotionally. Her voice has powers, she can influence how the demon's feel with it. She usually makes them feel overjoyed or thrilled. Songs like that can make any demon feel positive. The only time her powers don't come out of her voice is when she's angry.

Someone hired her once to sing a metal song which made the crowd start in a wild brawl. It lasted for two days until some were killed or running away for their life. It was a sight she would never forget.

She sighs a little at the memory and she pulls up to the hotel eventually. She looks up at the sign and her eyes widen when it no longer reads 'Happy Hotel' and it is replaced with 'Hazbin Hotel'. She likes that word a lot more she thinks with a smirk. Parking next to Charlie's limo, she turns off the engine to her own car and steps out, slamming the door. She is exhausted emotionally and mentally; now she must move all these boxes full of her shit.

Maybe she could ask someone for help? She wonders and decides to travel towards the front doors. If no one will help her, then oh well she will have to suck it up. Going inside, she finds Husker at the bar still, appearing bored out of his mind. No one else was present and she smiles politely when approaching him.

"Hello there." she greets.

His face remains bored as he gives her a glance, "What do you want?"

She continues to smile, albeit faker, not enjoying his unwelcoming attitude. "I was wondering if you could help me with something."

"Not interested." he replies bluntly.

A tick mark pulses against her temple, "Well, you appear bored out of your mind. Surely, you could make the time of day to help me with one little favor."

"Do I have to repeat myself? Or are you just stupid? Fuck off." he growls and takes out a bottle of booze.

She points her finger at the bottle which explodes with sparks, showing her fury through her power. He shouts with a glare at her, his teeth snarling at her. Her smile is scary right now as it grows more and her eyes were closed, "I do not appreciate your rude behavior, sir. Now I will ask again and if you answer me again with such a tone, I will slice off your tongue."

He shrinks back a little, appearing a little frightened. "Alright! Alright! I'll help you!" Husker shouts.

Her smile lessons to a normal degree and she lowers her hand, "I appreciate the help!"

"Sheesh. I know who to not also piss off now..." he grumbles to himself as he comes around the counter. "What do you need help with?" he asks.

"I need help moving stuff to my bedroom from my automobile."

He sighs under his breath, "Fine." he grinds out, heading toward the front doors.

She follows after him with a hum. He doesn't talk much, and she is passive about it. He helps carry the boxes up to her bedroom after telling him the number, both of them making trips. She eyes the big box in her car, the one she had trouble lifting earlier when packing it into it. She wraps her arms around it and tries to lift it, only to have it fall to her feet. She stares at it as if it were the biggest challenge in her life. Perhaps she should wait for Husker to come back down and they could lift it together to her room.

The idea is plausible until the box is lifted by an emitting green glow. She stares at it oddly, knowing it wasn't her powers; hers don't work like that. She spots red behind it and finds Alastor standing there with his cane lifted slightly.

"It looks like you could use some help!" he exclaims with that grin of his.

Irene smiles and nods, "Please and thank you."

She bends down and crawls into the backseat to grab the last box. Scrambling back out, she lets out a huff and kicks the door shut. "This is the last one!" she informs and starts to walk away from the car.

He falls into step beside her, the box levitating next to him. "That's quite a lot of stuff you got there!"

"Too much stuff from over the years. It appears I hoarded more than I thought!" she laughs a little.

He opens the door with his powers and gestures for her to go, "Ladies first!"

She chuckles at his kind gesture, "Such a gentleman!" she rebukes teasingly.

She walks ahead of him and to the elevator. She could hear his steps behind her, and she taps the up button on the elevator. "Dear Charlie has informed everyone about your stay. To think someone else believes in redemption is quite a laugh!" he jests, his grin deepening for a moment; followed by the sound of an audience laughing.

Irene stills as the elevator beeps as it passes a floor, "Yes, well." she starts off, unsure how to explain this. "I think I deserve it." she declares with a pained look. She misses the dark look Alastor gives her.

The elevator dings and the doors open to reveal Husker, "Is there more?" he asks while getting off the elevator.

"No! These are the last! Thanks for the help, Husker." she smiles and steps onto it as Alastor trails in with the other box.

"Yeah, yeah." Husker grumbles as the doors close.

She hits the number two button and silence is met as it goes up. She clears her throat awkwardly when the doors open and she exits first, "Are you really bored, Mr. Alastor?" she asks curiously.

"Pardon?"

She leads him to her door which is open already and steps into the bedroom. She drops the box on top of another and he sets the other one down onto the ground gently. She wipes her brow, craving for a glass of homemade lemonade at the moment.

"Are you so bored to offer your services for such a ridiculous cause?" she repeats in a longer version as she walks her way around some boxes, looking for a specific one.

"As I said before, this is entertainment for myself! What else could it be?" he asks with as static increases in his voice.

She finds the box labeled, 'Art' and grabs it. She cuts it open with her claw and opens it up. "You tell me, you're the supposedly evil demon in the room." she states with a slight frown as she searches for a specific painting she did. Being a demon really allowed you the time to broaden your skills.

"Dearie, there is nothing to worry about." he tries to convince.

She doesn't look at him, really concentrated on her task at finding the small canvas she painted. "That's what a maladaptive liar would say." she mutters with a roll of her eyes.

A dark presence could be felt but she tries to not react to it, "How amusing! But I can assure that I am speaking the truth!" he proclaims loudly, his voice a bit warbly.

She narrows her eyes as she picks up the canvas she was searching for. He is lying again; he could even be telling the half-truth. The dark feeling passes, and she assumes he has calmed down. "Whatever you say, I don't take well to liars though." she mentions and stares the artwork. It was a picture she drew of a tube radio. Specifically, the one her husband made her. It doesn't look absolutely the same, her memory a little hazy after all these years.

She tosses it towards him, and he catches it in a flash. His grin widens considerably while examining its features, "Keep it." she offers.

"Whatever for?" he asks as his pupils narrow in on her for a split second.

She gives him a smirk, "For offering your help."


	4. Coffee and Biscuits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter y'all! I'm happy to know many of you are enjoying this fanfic!
> 
> The new memory is how she met Alastor, so there's that to look forward to!
> 
> Have a nice day! :)

Unpacking had been the worst and she reminds herself to never move again. Laying on the bed, she stares at the ceiling. Her eyes felt incredibly heavy and it is pretty late into the night. She kicks her flats off and curls herself into a ball; not bothering to change, as she is exhausted from all the excitement today.

Before she knows it, she falls into her dreams once more.

Past Memory:

It is raining. Her leather purse kept slipping in her hand as she stands outside in the pouring rain. Not many people were out due to the weather. An automobile runs by, hitting a large puddle of water, splattering her in the process somehow like a huge wave. She sighs dejectedly, her head hung low. What else could go wrong today? she ponders sadly.

Thunder rumbles in the distance as the gray clouds race amongst the sky at a fast pace. The could find her miserable reflection in the puddle of water below her feet. If only she was better at talking in front of large groups with judging eyes. This is the tenth time she has been rejected by judges to perform in New York City. Those are where the stars really shine, not in New Orleans, her current home. 

She couldn't understand it, she always tends to mess up somehow. Today she tripped on her own too left feet and the judges didn't think she was prepared. Thinking about it brought waves of embarrassment and self horror. Stomping her foot, she throws down her bag in a fit of anger. This stupid rain, stupid auditions, why can't she ever do anything right?! She drags a hand through her hair in frustration. All she wants is her dream to come true, like all those novels. 

She gives herself a hug as the rain makes her shoulders feel heavier. Why is she even standing out here still? She should get in her automobile and go back home. 

The area around her darkens abruptly, a slight shadow of a circle and the rain stops hitting her. Peering up through her drenched bangs, she finds a red umbrella hovering over her. Her brows furrow in confusion as she follows the hand holding it above her. She finds a man to her right with a charming smile and wild light brown hair.

"A lady looks better with a smile upon her face, no?" he asks while leaning closer to her, trying to not let the rain hit him in the process of covering her.

She stares at him, a bit dumbfounded despite how handsome he was. "Some people can't always be happy." she replies, her frown still permanent.

His grin lessons if only a little bit, "But it is best to try!"

Her eyebrows rise in surprise and she looks up at the sky thoughtfully, "Apparently...I try too much." she sighs.

"Perhaps, you need to change the way you try?" 

"Eh?"

He smirks slightly, "Change the way you approach what you want to achieve!" he rephrases.

His voice is very overwhelming, but it's very captivating as well. His advice isn't bad either and the thought he was trying makes a tiny smile appear on her lips. 

He catches sight of it and speaks again, "There we go! Feel better now?!" he cheers with a grin.

"Getting there."

He chuckles lightly and offers his arm to her, "You look like you could use some company! How about we go grab a bite to eat?"

She stares at the stranger in disbelief and she tucks her hair behind her ear. "Oh, I suppose so." she agrees and grabs her purse off the ground. Looping her arm through his, he leads her to a diner not too far. Both of them order strawberry milkshakes which they discover as each other's favorites.

"So, mystery man, what gave you the heart to help little 'ol me?" she asks while folding the paper napkin into a crane.

He leans back, watching her with interest, "I can't ignore a call for help when I see one!"

"So, I'm a charity case?"

He laughs at that, finding her poor sense of humor funny. "No, no, dear. I didn't mean it like that! Though I was a bit bored and what's better than talking to a stranger as beautiful as yourself?" 

She doesn't blush at the compliment, not sure how to take his boldness. "I doubt I'm beautiful with my sopping wet hair and ruined makeup by now." she snorts out.

His grin widens and she wonders if he ever stops smiling, doesn't his mouth hurt? she wonders. "I know the appearance of what a beautiful woman looks like." he encourages.

She shakes her head in disbelief, "You're right, I have men waiting for my hand in marriage." she voices with a sigh. It wasn't necessarily a lie, coming from a rich family made many men want to marry her. "Too bad for them though." she jokes while finishing the last step to the paper crane.

"Why is that?" 

She peers up at him curiously and holds her head in hand, "I've got dreams most women don't in this age."

His eyebrows rise as he leans forward, most interested. "And that would be?"

She smirks and leans forward as well, his face quite close to hers. "You're going to laugh if I tell you."

He smirks challengingly, "Now I'm really dying with curiosity." he breathes quietly. 

She hums lowly, debating on telling him. "I want to perform on Broadway or get an actual career in the music industry as a singer." she confesses with an excited grin. 

His eyes widen and so does his smirk, "My, my! How thrilling! That's a brilliant dream!" he praises.

She blushes then, not expecting him to take her seriously. She slaps her hands over her cheeks and backs away, "You're just saying that!" 

He chuckles then, "I'm not lying! I find this dream of yours entertaining, to say the least!"

"Do you have one?" she asks after a moment.

His eyes flicker to the window, as the pair narrow slightly as his lips stretch. "Something like that..."

"Is it bizarre like mine?"

His eyes flicker towards her as if it were examining her overall soul. "Very, the most thrilling thing out there in this world."

Her curiosity is peaked, to say the least, much of the man is such a wonder. "Can I ask what it is?"

"...it's a secret." he whispers with a wink. 

She pouts a little, wanting more than ever to know. "Fair enough."

The sound of glass clinks next to them and the waiter is waiting with their shakes. He sets them down a friendly smile and gives them spoons. 

"Thanks!" Irene exclaims happily.

The waiter nods, "Welcome', enjoy you two!" 

The employee walks away after that and Irene dips her finger into the whipped cream. She puts it in her mouth with a joyful hum, the sugar dissolving quickly in her mouth. She realizes the man has been quiet for the last few minutes. Irene glances at him to find him simply staring intensely with a soft smile on his lips. She stares back unsuringly, not understanding why he was staring like that. 

"What?" she asks cluelessly. 

He smirks with a light chuckle and reaches forward with his hand. It comes into contact with the corner of her mouth as he wipes it; he brings his hand back towards himself and shows the whipped cream on his thumb. "Had a little something there."

His tongue pokes out and he licks it off his finger. She blushes again at the actions, this man becoming too much for her to handle. He is the strangest person she's met by far with his neverending smiles and grins.

"...thanks." she mutters shyly and opens a straw packet. 

She puts it inside the milkshake and takes a nervous sip as he does so also.

"What's you're name, dearie?" 

Not expecting such a question, she takes the stray away from her mouth. "It's Irene, and you?"

A devilish look appears in his eyes as he extends a hand toward her, "Alastor."

She takes his proffered hand and he brings the back of it up to his lips, giving it a charming peck. "I have a feeling we'll be getting along." he hints with a wink.

She squirms under his gaze, not sure how to feel about the situation. She gives up with a long sigh and flashes him a dazzling smile, "Depends how long you can deal with me!" she jokes and takes the cherry off her milkshake, tossing it at him with a childish giggle. 

He smirks evilly at her as he dodges it somehow and throws his own back, effectively hitting her in the neck. "Dear! This is a piece of cake!" he exclaims with a cackle and a devouring gaze.

0-0-0-0-0

Irene's eyes crack a sliver open and she breathes out a soft groan; her dream was not a particularly bad one but it makes her feel forlorn though. She takes a peek at the clock on the nightstand to find it early in the morning in Hell. Not that there was a way to tell day from the night outside. Rising from the bed, her back cracks from being in the same position all night. 

Rubbing it as she slides out, she stumbles over to her dresser and pulls out a pair of sweats along with a hoodie. She might have been originally from the early 1920s but that doesn't mean she couldn't change her style as she lives on in her unbearable years. She still prefers dresses but her sense of style has adjusted over the decades. And when it comes to comfy clothes, her opinion most definitely shifted with time. 

Taking off her dress and pantyhose, she puts on her overly baggy clothes tiredly. After she feels more comfortable, she drags herself over to the bathroom for a daily morning routine. Coming back out a few moments later, she slides on her pink slippers and walks out of her bedroom. She grabs the key from her hoodie pocket, Charlie gave it to her yesterday while she was unpacking.

Walking down the hallway, she hits the down button on the elevator while yawning a little. She was never a morning person and will never ever be. The elevator dings and she finds Angel Dust already on board. He stares at her for a moment as she gets in with him.

"You look like someone killed your dog." he comments. 

She stares at him dead in the eye, "My sleep was...rough." she mumbles with a small yawn.

"The bed's aren't the comfiest. But hey, it's free."

She snorts at him and shrugs as the elevator goes down, "The whole place needs a touch up here and there."

"Ah! Vaggie said something 'bout you raising money for this place."

Irene nods with a tiny smile, not wanting to think about any type of work. "Yeah. It'll be a project, I haven't had one of those in a while." she thinks with a smile.

The doors open for them and Angel leads her out, "I went to one of your performances. I'm secretly a fan."

Irene perks up in surprise, "Really now? Did you have fun?" she asks.

He laughs with a nod as she follows him, hopefully to the kitchen she thinks. "Yeah, it was a good time, not gonna lie."

She giggles lightly, "I'm happy you enjoyed it!"

He smiles and approaches a double door. He pushes it open and holds it for her with one of his arms and she follows accordingly. She was right, he did lead her to the kitchen. It was actually clean which surprises her. It is empty though. She finds the fridge from the front area in the corner in its proper place now.

"Did you guys move stuff around while I was busy?" Irene asks while examing the room.

He nods as he sits down in a chair, "Yeah! I had to move all this shit in here. Charlie was so ecstatic because of you, she had us move stuff around." he complains with a verbal 'ugh'. 

She runs a finger down the counter, not picking up any dust. "Did Nifty clean this place up?"

"She's a clean-freak. The whole hotel is already spotless!" 

She would be lying if she said she wasn't impressed, "How convenient."

She opens the cabinets, finding some utensils and pots/pans. Some of them her own from moving here. She handed a box to Charlie saying to take them here along with some food she had from home. "Was she even prepared to open this place?" she asks out loud, her voice full of puzzlement.

"Hell if I know, we barely ever have enough funds for food."

Irene takes out a tray and rolls up the sleeves of her hoodie, "Well, guess I'll start cookin'."

Angel glances in her direction in surprise, "You know how to?"

She gives him an incredulous look, "Of course I do, do you not know?" she asks while traveling to the fridge once more.

She opens it, knowing the food she brought here should be in there. Spotting the milk and butter, she grabs those and closes the door. She puts them onto the counter and goes over to the cabinets, searching for the specific ingredients she needs. 

"Hey! I ain't got time for that! I have other shit to do then learn how to cook food!"

Irene shakes her head at him, "You have more free time now, don't you?" 

He shrugs and leans back in his chair, appearing indifferent about the matter. "So what? I'm making better use of my time sittin' here."

"Clearly." she drawls with an eye roll.

She finds the flour she was looking for along with sugar, baking powder, and salt. Grabbing those as well, she sets them on the counter too. Finding a large mixing bowl, she takes that from a cabinet as well, setting it down next to the ingredients. 

"What are you makin' anyway?" he asks, suddenly by her side as he stares at the ingredients curiously. 

She smirks at his moment of childlike innocence, "Biscuits and gravy."

"Isn't that...human food?" he asks cautiously.

She grins with a wink and turns around to turn on the stove, "Yep!"

"How did you get those ingredients, eh?" 

She pulls a nonchalant shrug, "With...money, how else?"

"Bullshit, you know what I meant."

She pulls an innocent look, "How about we leave out the details of how I got them and instead enjoy the fact that I do have them."

He stares at her in awe, "And here I thought you were a goody-two-shoes!" 

She smirks deviously, "Who said anything about being good? I was given these items for a fair price, ya' know?"

He laughs with a hand on his chest, "There is no such thing as fair in Hell!" he cackles.

"It's a secret between us two then." 

"What's a secret?!" a shrill voice peeps up out of nowhere.

Irene and Angel shout in surprise, not even hearing the person come in. Nifty stood in front of them with a sharp-toothed grin, waiting for a response. 

Irene smirks softly, "That Angel can't cook food."

Angel sends her a glare, "What did you just say?!"

She snickers and begins to level out the ingredients with measuring spoons she dragged out. "How did you sleep, Nifty?" Irene asks politely.

"I didn't."

Irene stops stirring the spatula in her hand with a concerned look, "What? Why not?"

"I wasn't done cleaning, once I start I can't stop!" she squeals, walking closer to Irene.

Irene's eyes almost bug out of her sockets, "You're amazing, Nifty! I couldn't even clean my bedroom after packing, I passed out too quickly."

Nifty blinks rapidly, "I don't understand, but I can clean your room if you want!"

"What? No! It's okay, I can do it myself!"

Nifty smiles with a shrug and decides to take the place on the chair Angel sat on before.

"I wish I had that much stamina." Angel remarks dirtily. 

Irene shakes her head and smacks his chest playfully, "It's too early in the mornin' for your sexual innuendos, dear."

He smirks and waggles his eyebrows teasingly, proceeding to wrap an arm around her shoulders. "Don't deny you don't like em'." 

The sound of the door opening catches their attention before she could answer and Alastor enters the kitchen, appearing normal like usual. 

"Good morning, everyone!" he exclaims with that grin of his.

Everyone acknowledges him back and she shrugs off Angel's arm. She heads toward the sink and washes her hands. When done, she pats them on her pants, not finding a towel nearby. She grabs the dough in the bowl and starts to roll them into balls. Alastor creeps closer to her other side, glancing at the tray curiously. 

"And what may you be making, my dear?" he asks, watching her hands scoop more out.

She smiles lightly, "Good ol' biscuits and gravy."

"Oh, it has been quite a while dare I say since I even thought about that dish."

Chuckling at him, she nods, "My friend used to be a great baker. I picked up some recipes from her."

"I see!" Alastor notes. "Perhaps, I shall make some coffee with this breakfast!" he offers and opens a cabinet with his powers.

"Oh! Please do!" she exclaims and the oven beeps, signifying it was ready. When she finishes the last ball of dough, she sets the pan into the oven and set's a timer for it. "I love it with a bunch of cream." she hums with a cheery smile.

He stills by the counter as he holds a teapot in his hands, "Interesting. I prefer it black and bitter!" he informs, his grin a little unsettling in her perspective but she doesn't catch on much to the reason why.

"Yes, coffee is excellent!" she agrees and she takes out another bowl. "Now! Angel come closer."

"Why?" he asks, scooting next to her side once more.

"Because I'm going to teach you how to cook!"


	5. Sing Me A Song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! How's it going? Hopefully good. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and thank you so much for the comments/kudos. It warms my heart! Idk if you guys can see, I do reply back to them. 
> 
> FYI, I changed the beverage last chapter to coffee instead of tea. I literally found out that Alastor doesn't like tea. So yeah, there's that lol.
> 
> You guys are gonna freak this chapter...
> 
> Oh yes! Before I leave you to the reading! There is a song for the chaptor that's super duper short. Idk if any of you have seen Violet Evergarden but I am using that song as Irene's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjmt2kBUp6U (if you wish to listen)

"I've never had this before." Charlie informs everyone, poking her fork at the biscuit.

Irene smiles at her as she sets down the leftover biscuits on the table. "It's a classic."

Charlie cuts it and stabs it with a fork, "Is it really as good as you guys say?" she asks.

"Almost all Americans have eaten this hearty breakfast!" Alastor announces with a laugh.

"I've heard about it." Vaggie comments, eating her own with a small smile.

Irene nods and takes a seat across from Alastor and the one next to Charlie, "Is it good?" Irene asks Vaggie, being the first to eat it.

She nods, her hair bobbing with her head. "It's pretty good."

Irene smirks and grabs her own fork, proceeding to point it at Angel, "I told you, you wouldn't mess up."

He scowls and swipes up his own fork, devouring a large chunk of the biscuit. "I did my best."

Irene giggles at his behavior and she tastes it herself, "The gravy turned out great! Good job!" she praises with a hum in delight.

He avoids everyone's gaze, focusing on the food. Charlie glances at all of them and decides to finally try her own. A blush settles on her cheek as she eats it, her lips curve upward after she was done. "This is so good, Ire!" 

"Happy I've satisfied everyone with my cooking." 

Everyone eats in silence, enjoying the meal and she takes a sip of her coffee. She glances at everyone with a lingering smile; the scene feeling all too familiar and warm. She sets her head on her hand, her elbow on the table as she spaces out. This reminds of her and Maribel, their friends as well, eating meals together and chatting about everyday life. She misses the sun a good deal, she loved the light so much. 

During her daze, she didn't notice the underlying look Alastor was giving her. His smile and eyes widening a considerable amount, that the emotion is undetectable. Her eyes somehow catch sight of the motion and before she knows it, they are having a staring contest. Searching. Searching for something? What is it? Their gaze so curious, it almost made her want to die; he made her want to die. With what though?...

Vaggie's voice cuts through the stare like a knife and her heart jumped to her throat in surprise. "Ire, I've been wondering, if you've come up with a plan on how to start the fundraiser?"

Irene shakes her head a little, her brain feeling bit scrambled. "What?" she asks.

"The fundraiser. How do we start it? When?" Vaggie explains again.

Taking another bite of her food before it grows cold, she thinks silently to herself. How to start a fundraiser for a hotel that rehabilitates sinners...this will be difficult. She taps a finger to her chin thought, "Hmm, perhaps, I will call my old agents. I'm sure they could help us out. After that, place posters all over town. All that's all I got for now."

Vaggie nods, "Sounds like a good start." 

"What will you be singing?" Nifty asks from her spot, gravy all over her mouth.

Her brain halts and her eyes widen in panic, "Good question." she gasps. 

Charlie smiles, "You have so many songs. It'll be hard to pick one or even a few."

The stress of the situation begins to grow heavy, "I-I'll need a crew, set...holy shit, I'll need a whole damn stage! Where are we going to go find that?!" she rambles, her leg bouncing anxiously underneath the table.

Charlie's eyes widen, "Do we need a stage?!" 

Irene stands from her chair and begins to pace across the room, "I don't know, it depends how many people come! Have you seen my venues!? Oh no, I have to deal with crowds again, I'm going to need bodyguards too!" she frets.

"Bodyguards? Can't you just kill them yourself?" Angel asks with a 'pft'.

"Not if I want to start a brawl and ruin my reputation!" 

"Calm down woman. It's not that bad." Angel attempts to calm her down.

She massages her face, "It's been 10 years since I've last performed! This is bad, I bet my voice is not even working properly!" 

Charlie stands up and grabs Irene by the shoulders, "Ire, calm down. We have time, it's not like we're in the need of it right now. Okay?"

"We kinda need it now." Vaggie mutters.

Hearing that made the jitters in her explode again and her demon attributes start to procure due to the heavy emotion of nerves. Her eyes light up and more feathers grow on her face, as she was a bird demon after all. "I don't want to let anyone down!" she sighs loudly and walks out of Charlie's grasp, hiding her face in her hair.

"Well, if you fail, at everyone gets a laugh out of it!" Alastor shouts with a snicker. "It'd be very entertaining indeed." he remarks with a scary smirk.

She sends him a glare, "I'd not a comedian!" she growls at him.

"Really?"

She starts to lurch at him, ready to tear the piece of shit apart until Charlie holds her back. "Let me at him! He loves the color red so much, I'll make him match his attire!" she snarls. 

"Ire! Calm down! He's messing with you!" Charlie cries, pulling her back with a look of worry.

Angel starts to cackle, tears coming out of his eyes, "I see why folks call her 'Ire' now." he wheezes. 

She points her finger at Angel, shaking in Charlie's grip, "Shut the fuck up before I take that gold tooth of yours and shove it in your eye!" 

"Is she always this violent?" Husker asks in the corner with an amused look.

She fumes angrily, wanting to kill either Alastor who sits there placidly drinking his coffee with a smug and humored face or the spider demon who is trying to catch their breath. She sighs through her nose, trying to calm herself down. It wasn't working, all the nerves and anger too high. She wrenches herself out of Charlie's grip and walks out of the kitchen with heavy footfalls.

She paces to her bedroom, going up the elevator and unlocks her room with a fumbling hand. Stupid demons, stupid nerves.

She stomps inside and slams the door behind her. She catches sight of herself in the mirror and stares in the reflection. It's been a while since she's seen her demon attributes. Whenever her emotions are on an all-time high, they tend to come out instinctually. It happens when she sings too because she loves it so much; she's a bundle of nerves on stage usually as well. 

Sighing lowly to herself, the anger in her residing but the nerves stay. The feathers on her skin slowly go away from her forehead and disappear altogether. Her bright vibrant red eyes slowly diminish until they are at their normal color: pale red. Why are all demons assholes? she wonders.

0-0-0-0-0

After walking around the hotel for a good while, she still couldn't find a music room. Surely Charlie would have one because her student is quite the musical artist. She started from the top to the bottom, but couldn't find anything but more rooms. The hallways were too confusing as well and she's pretty sure she didn't discover everything yet. She should ask Charlie and also apologize for acting out like that. She isn't proud when she gets angry like that.

Going back to the elevator, she pushes the button to go down. Waiting for it to climb back up, she suddenly feels like something is staring at her. Turning around curiously, she readjusts the bag slung over her shoulder, it was filled with blank paper and her old scores. Frowning, the gaze disappears as quickly as she turned. 

"Hello?" she asks in question.

She is met with silence and she narrows her eyes, peering around cautiously. Whatever was looking at her has appeared to stop. The elevator dings and that catches her attention as the doors open for her to enter. Walking inside, she hits the ground floor button and catches a flash of something dark in the hallway she was standing in before, zips by. Her eyes bug out of her head as the door closes and the elevator descends. 

"The hell was that?" she asks herself, a little wary. It looked like a shadow...

Not wanting to think about it, the elevator lands on her floor and opens. Walking out, she heads toward Charlie's office, hoping the girl would be in there. The place is so damn big, she considers if having a headset would be a good idea for the staff. Pacing toward the door she was looking for, she knocks and opens it slowly. Good for her that Charlie was indeed inside.

She looks up with a curious look but it turns into a smile, "Feeling better?" Charlie asks while folding her hands on top of the desk.

Irene frowns to herself and comes inside, shutting the door behind her. "Something like that," she mumbles until she snaps out of her guilt. "Anyways, I want to apologize for my behavior, it was not very ladylike in the least."

Charlie smiles and stands up from her chair, "Don't worry about it. It's clear you have anger issues."

Irene raises a questioning eyebrow, "No I don't." she states in denial, feeling a little offended.

Charlie stares at her incredulously, "Really?... What would you call that temper then?"

Irene starts to open her mouth to talk, ready to argue until the question makes her debate. Does she have anger issues? "I was...isn't that a normal reaction when people pick on you?"

Charlie giggles a little, placing a hand over her mouth in the process, "Well...I don't think to that extent."

Irene blinks owlishly, not realizing this about her the whole time here. "Maybe I do take after my father." she ponders with a smile.

Charlie laughs at that as well, "Do you accept you have anger issues now?"

Irene smirks, "As much as I hate to admit it, apparently I do. How do I not notice that?"

Her pupil shrugs with a goofy smile, "I don't know either." 

Irene hums thoughtfully, no wonder Husker gave in so easily. 

Charlie sobers up and continues, "Maybe you should apologize to Alastor and Angel too? You did kind of threaten them."

Irene crosses her arms, "I'm not apologizing to either of them. Especially, Alastor." 

"They might appreciate it." 

Irene laughs now, "If I apologize to that 'Strawberry Pimp' as Angel says, I will be made fun even more." 

Charlie's face twists amusingly until she sighs, "I can't force you to, I suppose."

"Anyways, on another note, do you have a music room somewhere in here?"

She perks up at the word 'music' with a wide grin, "You bet I do! Why?"

"I need to practice, don't I?" 

Charlie squeals and grabs her hand, starting to lead her out the door. "Yes! This is going to be so much fun!" she exclaims with excitement.

Irene lets Charlie drag her through the halls and it seems the music room was down here. The last place she would look literally Irene sighs. Oh well, it was fun to explore most of the place anyways. Coming up to some double doors, she pushes them open for her.

Inside sat a beautiful black piano and many other instruments around the neatly decorated room. It was a huge area, it makes her think of a wedding space at a hotel. There were huge windows and a small balcony too. Smiling at the sight of it, Irene moves away from Charlie to go up to the grand piano. 

"Oh hun, this is so beautiful." Irene compliments as she touches the glossy sleek piano.

She presses some keys with a delighted smile, the notes making her skin shiver. Charlie comes up to her with a grin, "I love this room!"

"How did you afford such a thing?"

"You forget my parents are the rulers of Hell."

"But you can't keep up with the hotel?" she questions. "We should have the fundraiser in here."

Charlie nods and pushes on some keys as well thoughtlessly, "That's what Vaggie was thinking. And my parents don't really support this..."

"Oh." she mutters, not sure what to say to that. She changes back to the subject at hand instead, "It might not be big enough though..." Irene frowns, eyeing the place.

"Vaggie was thinking about making it exclusive. Whoever pays the highest gets the tickets."

"Ohh! That's brilliant! Yes, sounds good, smaller crowd too!" 

She sits down in front of the piano and Charlie sits at her side, "Is your favorite song the same? Has it changed since we met?" Charlie asks curiously.

Irene smiles warmly and sets her fingers on a set of keys, "Nope! Do you remember how to play it?" she asks and bumps her shoulder with Charlie.

Her pupil smiles widely, "I think so! It's been a really long time."

Irene laughs and Charlie sets her fingers close by on the piano. "Don't bump my fingers like old times."

Charlie laughs and smiles brightly, "I won't, I promise!"

Irene starts off by singing and Charlie hits the right keys. Together they start to play the small piece. It has been a very long time since she's sang this song and played it. Her heart warms lovingly at the thought of her mother. No one knows the true meaning of this song. It is her mother's originally. Her mother was a talented singer and played the piano as well. She was pregnant with her when she made it. Left the notes and some sample of lyrics before she passed. She died from childbirth because of her. 

This is a small gift of love left behind by a mother she never met. 

She glances at Charlie in corner of her eye, to find her crying with a cracked smile. Probably from her voice, Irene concludes. She couldn't stop how she felt about the song as it makes her cry with happiness and grief so peculiar. 

She stops singing and Charlie stops, playing the last note with a sniffle. "Ire!~" she sobs with puppy dog eyes.

Irene opens her arms and Charlie dives in for a hug. She rests her head against the top of Charlie's with a soft smile. "Sorry for making you cry, dear."

Charlie shakes her head in her chest, "I-It's okay..." she sniffles in her embrace. The silent room comforting them in the smallest of ways.

The clacking of shoes couldn't be heard in the hallway followed by an excited expression from a certain red demon as he walks further down the hall, twirling his cane/mic around. "Oho!~ The game just got even more interesting!~" he shouts in glee as his shadow smiles evilly behind him. A sinister look full of menace appearing on his face last second, a red ominous glow surrounds him; the symbol dancing around with elation.


	6. Oh Dear, Wife of Mine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my lovelies!
> 
> This chapter is a treat, let me tell you, I had so much fun writing it! Lemme know if I got his character on point! He's so difficult to handle LMAO. 
> 
> Yo guys, I just joined a Hazbin Hotel discord server. I have only been there for 4 days and I've already made so many friends. If you guys wish to join lemme know, there's a shit-ton of members.

Irene doesn't know how long she sat in the music room. She kept playing the piano over and over, trying to find a melody to play. While it may be easier to use her older songs, she found herself wanting to create a new song; over her years, the inspiration for music became an all-time low. Music is all she knows and it still will ever be in the context of her personality. 

Charlie left some time ago, having other stuff to take care of. 

Stilling her stiff fingers on the piano keys, she sighs tiredly. Maybe she should try to create some lyrics first. Nothing was coming to her on the piano. She could always use a different instrument as well she muses thoughtfully. Sliding off the bench, she grabs the bag she came in with and sits down on the floor. Taking a huge stack of paper out from it, she sets it on the floor. Grabbing a black marker, she stares at the white paper with concentration and determination. She needs to create something the audience can get excited about. Perhaps, the piano is not the way to go...

It was time to create some words she thinks with a smirk.

0-0-0-0-0-0

_Alastor POV:_

The thrill of finding his wife down here in Hell was positively humorous and irritable. The want to kill her has increased ten-fold. He couldn't get over the fact she ended up here, he was quite unsure if she would follow. _He should've known better._ She did kill someone in fact. It is currently nighttime in Hell and most of the residents in the hotel are fast asleep. 

It would be the perfect time to strike.

With that thought, a sinister grin appears on his face as he stalks toward the music room once more that day. He is almost trembling to end her pathetic life right now. It was giving him a high he has not felt for some time now. The static around him continues as he thinks of the various ways to end her life on the way there. His shadow confirmed that she was still in the music room. This is a perfect time indeed. 

His shoes clack with each long stride, almost in a hurry to get there. 

Reaching the door, he attempts to calm himself down to not make her wary at first. However, when he pushes the door, she is laying on the floor with a multitude of papers surrounding her form. He narrows his gaze on her slightly and walks inside, not making a single sound. His shadow is lurking behind him curiously and it closes the door behind him quietly. He paces closer to her form to find her fast asleep, her arm as a pillow. A marker in her grip, was slack against the paper, making a line go through the word, 'no'.

Forgetting his bloodlust for a moment, he examines the papers all around and avoids stepping on them as he approaches closer to her. He found many words on the papers, all of them a single word for each piece. What is his wife doing? He's never seen this before even when she sang. He picks up a paper as curiosity fills him again, the paper read 'night'. He realizes the words were in order then. All together the words read, 'I've been up all night, no sleep'. _Interesting, _he thinks to himself while letting the paper fly out of his grasp without much care.

He turns to look at his wife, she did look different from what he knew as a human. He squats down, feeling his bloodlust slowly brew again as he examines her new features. He would have never thought that this bird demon was his wife. The pink hair, red feathers, and pale skin would certainly throw him off. However, her personality is almost the exact same. He had hints of it, making him remember things about his human life when around her. He had his suspicions but he severely doubted it was her. 

That outburst of hers this morning certainly threw him off from his speculations. She never has never gotten that angry with him. He picks up a piece of her hair thoughtfully as a dark red hue begins to develop around him. The static in the room picks up as his insane smile returns. To kill her would be the treat of the decade. She must not even know it was her husband she has been chatting to this whole time. He did look quite different himself. 

He chuckles lowly and she doesn't move in her spot. Her soft snores he was accustomed to echoing silently in front of him. _What an idiotic woman, leaving herself so vulnerable. _He could squeeze her neck until her head pops off like a balloon. He could torment her with his powers, but that would wake up all the others from the sense of his power. His shadow cackles behind him silently, wanting to kill the woman also.

He takes out his mic/cane and debates on ramming it through her heart. The stupid thing always bled for him. Her undying love for him, that he loved to twist cruelly. He snickers at his memories, how many times he wanted to kill her in their bed when she was asleep. He did admit, he missed her when he arrived her. She was an entertaining toy that always gave him some amount of joy. Watching her suffer in her sadness, loneliness, and failure was very amusing to him. Especially the disappointment in him was an all-time high. 

Smirking cynically, his powers begin to swirl around him and symbols start to appear the air. She was a wonderful toy he enjoyed breaking in the end. She reacts to his powers that flourish around them and squirms in the spot, but still fast asleep. His grin is almost coming off his face, yes to kill her now would be the best. To get her out of the way before she causes more problems like she tends to do.

_"It's been a good time, darling." _he hums, the radio static becoming worse as his shadow clings to his back with dripping want to see her blood splattered across the floor. 

No, it would more fun to simply run his hand through her body he thinks manically. The oozing blood of hers running down his hand. YES! It would be the most exhilarating feeling! 

He leans back, ready to run his whole arm through her chest. To reach in and grab that slowly beating heart of her's. He pulls his arm back and moves it forward swiftly. However, a whimper pierces the air suddenly. He freezes an inch from her chest in question, not sure why the sound came out of her. 

His crazed gaze flickers to her face, wondering if she woke up. But it would seem that is not the case but her face is scrunched up as if she were were scared. She starts to twitch a little, "No..." she murmurs with another whimper. He pulls back curiously, was she having a nightmare? She should be more scared of him right now. "Don't...Don't touch me!" she cries softly and squirms in her spot; like she was trying to get away from something.

He narrows his eyes, _who was touching her?_ he ponders to himself. 

Her face scrunches up more as if she were in pain, her demon nails scratch against the floor slightly. He leans down towards her ear, holding her down slightly to seize her wiggling figure. "Calm down." he whispers, his radio voice almost a trance, like butter melting. 

She stops moving upon the words and a smile appears on her lips. He leans away from her with a disappointed sigh. She's always been too much to handle sometimes. Why won't she let him kill her? His manic expression turned into one of irritation. He was no longer in the mood to murder her for some odd reason. Which is odd, he is always in the mood to kill. Perhaps, because she is so pathetic, always will be no matter what form she takes. 

He gathers her in his arms slowly, not trying to wake her in the slightest. In her human life, she was a heavy sleeper and it seems the trait continues to thrive in her. He adjusts her in his arms and the sound of the marker hitting the floor is heard. That doesn't disturb her in the slightest and he continues to walk out of the music room with her. She hums sleepily against his neck, her head resting on his shoulder. 

His irritation grows with this intimate stance he put himself in. He didn't really like touching others or being touched unless it contributed to his plans. Usually involving getting closer to the person for his own personal gain. However, his wife meant nothing to him now. She had no purpose for him in Hell. The undying want to end her life sprouts again. His shadow follows, giving him very confused looks; appearing not sure how to feel about this development either.

He glares at his shadow and it recedes back into the shadows where it belongs as he carries her to the elevator. He glances down at her slack form, still not rousing from sleep. Hitting the button, the elevator opens up with a ding. He walks inside and hits the floor her room is on. 

What is he even doing? 

Her face buries itself into his neck randomly and he stiffens at the feeling. She used to do this when they shared a bed. He never knew how to feel about it. 

"Mmm." she hums softly as a small smile is placed onto her lips.

He wanted to drop her, his fingers were burning.

The elevator arrives at the floor and it dings again. That causes her to shift a little, "W-What?" she murmurs in confusion, her vision cloudy with sleep.

He stills in the middle of the hallway, hoping she would fall back to sleep. Her arm lifts off his chest where it was laying and raises to his hair, "...red?" she questions lowly and tugs on it a little.

Nevermind, he was going to kill her right then and there. 

He raises his hand, ready to drive his hand through her again. However, another action of her again causes him to halt. She giggles lightly and buries her nose into his shoulder, "...pretty." she mumbles quietly until she passes out again.

He stands stock-still and relaxes when she is fast asleep, "This woman..." he sighs, the static in his voice skipping a little like a sigh. 

He continues walking again and reaches her door. He unlocks it with his powers, his hands too full to find the key. The door creaks open and he walks in. The bedroom was decorated with many things from the years he guesses. Many paintings and nicknacks she must have found throughout her time in Hell. He assesses it all while delivering her to the double bed. He sets her down gently and leans back after laying her down.

She squirms a little until she a soft sigh passes her lips, finding comfort in her bed. He grabs a nearby blanket and places it over her. This scenario felt so odd to him, it has been long since he has done this in general. She was bringing back memories he never really cared for until now. He stares at her still form on the bed that oozes small snores. He is disappointed that he couldn't find the will to kill her. Perhaps, it is because he also needs her, he realizes. He needs her for the plan, she will help Charlie in the hotel. 

After the fundraiser would be a good time to get rid of her. She will become useless once more. A devilish smirk appears on his lips at the thought. He turns and begins to leave the bedroom, however, a painting catches his eye. He picks it up from the nightstand in surprise. He finds a picture of himself, sitting on the deck they owned. His back was turned towards the picture, but he knew it was him. He glances at his wife, Irene, with an unsettling gaze. 

The idea of her cherishing him after all this time makes him wonder if she is insane. It makes him almost _uncomfortable_.

Idiotic woman, he thinks with a smirk. It will be just as easy to manipulate her as it did in the human days. He hums a jolly tune quietly as he sets the painting back down and exits her room, making sure to lock her door after. Now, how to plan this whole ordeal out is going to be very entertaining.

0-0-0-0-0

_Irene POV:_

Irene cuddles into the blankets around her with a smile. Has the floor always been this soft? she wonders. Maybe she should sleep there more often. But where did a blanket come from? Confusion settles on her brow and she snaps an eye open. Uh, how is she in her bedroom? Lurching up feeling more confuzzled, she stares at the blanket that lies across her form.

She doesn't remember coming back to her bedroom.

Did someone bring her back? she wonders while getting out of the bed. She decides to freshen up for the day and heads to the bathroom. She had a very unpleasant dream she remembers but it vanished suddenly like magic. Which she isn't complaining about, she did not like remembering her first time in Hell very much. With a frown, she stares at herself in the mirror. Yes, that memory could die for all she cared. 

With a small sigh, she starts her daily hygiene routine. After she was done, she exits the bathroom and wanders over to her closet. She picks out a decent outfit and glances at the time. It was really late into the morning, oops. 

Once dressed, she heads down to the kitchen to grab some breakfast before she tries to come up with a song. She only made a tiny bit of progress last night. A lot less than she was hoping for. Pushing the kitchen door open, she finds Alastor inside with a cup of coffee. 

Was he waiting for her or something? 

His eyes flicker over to her with an odd glimmer in them, "Good morning, _darling!" _

Her eye twitches in slight irritation, "Er, good morning." she responds.

She starts to search the cabinets in search of a quick item to eat. He drifts closer to her with a coffee cup in hand, "How did you sleep?" he asks. 

She freezes while on her tippy toes, her eyes widening. "You took me back to my room!?" she asks in surprise. 

"Indeed I did! What kind of man would I be to leave a woman alone and sleeping on the floor?!" he asks dramatically with a hand over his heart. 

She sweatdrops and shakes her head, "A...normal one?"

He laughs a little and leans closer to her, "You know, it's not every day I deliver such kind gestures. I even carried you, you see. Quite heavy to I must say."

She scowls at him and takes something equivalent to fruit in Hell out, "Well, I suppose I will have to thank you." 

If his shit-eating grin could become any larger, it did. "You're quite welcome, my dear!" 

She casts him a wary glance, his behavior almost a one-eighty from their previous interactions. "Right..." she drawls unsuringly and starts to head towards the door again. "Well, I'm going to go practice now. See yea, Alastor." 

She gives him a single wave and ditches the man in the kitchen. He was just too peculiar for her sometimes. 


	7. Miss Me With That Swing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! Happy belated Thanksgiving/Holidays! 
> 
> So, I have some news about Irene. I am having her commissioned because why not? Lol. There is some minor adjustments to her character's appearance which I will change in the earlier chapters. It just has to do with her species of demon. I'm giving her cute fox ears, but she'll probably be a mix of fox and bird. Mostly bird though. The ears looked so cute on her LOL.
> 
> Anyways, besides that, I know some of you were confused by the last chapter. Alastor's 'love' toward Irene is incredibly twisted, twisted to the point of I don't know if I want to call it love. I consider Alastor a sociopath, and sociopaths don't really love. They pretend to love someone for gain. However, I will not spoil it all right here so I guess you'll have to stick around to see how Alastor 'loves' Irene. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, guys!

Irene walks out of the music room again with a face full of pure exhaustion and irritation. It's never been this difficult to think of a song before! She grabs fistfuls of her hair in frustration, wanting to punch something to get her anger out. This whole fundraiser thing is a pain her actual ass. Letting out a low growl, she heads toward the front doors and walks out of the hotel for a breather. 

She needs to work out this creative block soon. If she has to, she'll need to use one of her old songs for the audience. After cooling down for a moment outside, she travels back in with resolved thoughts. Hopefully, she can gather a single amount of creative brain juice. She finds Husk at the bar as per usual, drinking some liquor. Maybe a shot wouldn't hurt.

She strolls up the bar and Husk watches her with slight interest. 

"What do you want?" he asks.

She frowns slightly and lifts herself onto a bar stool, "Does anything nice ever come out of that mouth of yours?" 

He scowls at her and slams his bottle of whiskey down, "Fuck you too."

She snickers and points to the bottle, "Mind giving me a shot?"

He lets out a string of curses and does as she asks. He sets the shot glass on the countertop, "I never took you the type to drink your problems away."

She huffs and shrugs, taking the shot glass and swirls the contents in it. "Never judge a woman based on how she looks. But I do not usually drink." 

"Then why do so now?"

She lifts the shot glass up to her lips and dumps it into her mouth. She makes a disgusted look, not enjoying the burning pain that flows down her throat to her stomach. Letting out a gagging sound, she sets the glass back on the counter, "I hope this makes my creative neurons flow."

He snorts a little and pours her glass again, "Then you're gonna need more than that."

"I better not drink more, hun."

He shrugs and pours himself a glass shot, "I'll challenge you."

Her brow raises in surprise, "You want me to get drunk with you essentially?" 

"I don't get drunk." 

She giggles at that and shakes her head, "Then what's the point in doing the challenge with me?"

"I'll relay any creative feedback I get out of you." 

She picks up the glass again, eyeing it warily, "Creative feedback you say. I better not as nice as it sounds." 

He shrugs and takes the glass out of her grip, "Your loss." 

She smiles slightly and hops out of the seat, "Don't get lost in the booze."

Feeling a little more jittery, she remembers something she has to do. Taking the phone out of her dress pocket, she scrolls through the contacts as she mindlessly walks back to the music room. She nearly forgot about contacting her old boss. 

Biting her fingernail anxiously, she didn't really want to talk to him again. He's the type to make you awkward with what spews out of his mouth. Maybe she should shoot him a text instead of call? Humming indecisively to herself, she doesn't notice the person in front of her. She collides into them albeit softly, she lifts her head to peer at the person she ran into; her phone dropping by her feet. 

She finds an intense smile directed at her from Alastor, the static around him buzzing to life. Dare she say the look gives her shivers as per usual. 

"Erm, whoops. Sorry, Alastor." Irene rambles and takes a step back with a nervous laugh, scratching the back of her head in the process.

His smile lessons by a degree with a chuckle, "Don't worry about it, darling!"

He spots her phone on the ground when she looks down at it. Picking it up for her, he stares down at the text she sent.

"Contacting your connections I see!" 

She nods with a slight scowl, "Yes, unfortunately. My old boss is quite the pain."

She holds her hand out for the phone and he gives it back with a suave look, "I'm surprised you accept this modern technology." 

"Eh?" Irene questions and plays with her phone in her hands mindfully. "Oh, yes. It's a must I suppose for my old career. It was a pain to try to understand at first." she reasons with a giggle at the end. She pockets her cellphone, "Do you not like the current technology?"

"I do not favor it much."

She laughs then, the air chiming with little bells as she saunters past him. "You're such a stick in the mud."

He decides to follow her, "Hah! My dear, I am no stick in the mud."

She smirks and attempts to elbow his side, which he dodges automatically. "That's what a stick in the mud would say."

He finds it funny to smack the back of her head with his hand and she sends him a mini-glare, "Ouch! That wasn't very nice!"

His grin gains a mockery twitch as he leans closer to her, his eyes scanning the features of her face quite intensely, "I don't know where you got the inclination that I am!" 

Irene huffs and crosses her arms in defense, "Please, with that reputation you have, I doubt your far from such an emotion."

"That is not necessarily wrong."

She nods in agreement and she leans toward him with a suspicious glance. His grin does not waver the slightest as he meets her eyes with his own. "Yet, you do charity work." she emphasizes. 

He chuckles, the sound of a radio setting switching stations could be heard from him. "Are you still lenient that I have a double reason for being here?"

She sends him a dubious look, "Anyone who is foolish enough to trust you is a poor sinner with no knowledge of you."

"...you did after all." he whispers under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing, dearie! Trust is the key to creating relationships you know?!" he points out as the cue of an audience laughing could be heard.

She doubts this demon incredibly and shakes her head, still not believing him. She feels him slid an arm across her shoulders and her eyes widen at the action. He leans close to her, twisting smile and everything, "Darling! I can see you are struggling much with your songs. How about I help you?!"

Her eyebrows raise in surprise, "You? You want to help me?"

He chuckles and lets go of her, picking up his pace so he is walking in front of her. "Why of course!" he exclaims.

"Hmm, you did do a great score a couple of days ago." she muses to herself while tapping her chin thoughtfully. 

The two finally arrive at the door and he pushes it open with his mic/cane. "Ladies first." he declares with a small bow and a wink as if he were a true gentleman. 

She smirks slightly as his oldened behavior and nods her thanks, heading inside the music room as he follows behind. "You don't have to help, really Al."

As she walks over to her papers on the ground, a lot more than the night before. She doesn't hear his footsteps and she looks over her shoulder to find him in a solid stance. His expression frozen in a concerning way. Frowning to herself, she walks up to him and waves a hand in his face, "Hey, you good?" she asks.

He blinks as if he was coming out of his daze, his smile a bit wry, "Say! You said you were from the same era as myself?!" he asks randomly, walking away from her as if nothing happened.

Blinking in confusion, she shrugs to herself and strolls over to the piano. "Yes, I did. What of it?"

He follows her again as she sits down on the bench in front of the piano. She opens the lid to the keys as she waits for his response. 

"What did you do in your human life?" he asks earnestly as he decides to sit beside her on the piano.

That question definitely surprised her and it was probably written in her expression. "What did I do?..." she ponders on the question for a moment. "I was mainly a housewife but I also had a side job. I was a singer, well I suppose I am still now one." she smiles goofily at the abrupt thought.

She lays her fingers on the keys absentmindedly, not necessarily pushing down on them. A housewife to the amazing radio host. Her gaze flickers over to him thoughtfully to find him already staring at her. 

"That sounds quite dull!" he exclaims with a laugh.

Shaking away her thoughts, she laughs a little as well. "It really was! But it wasn't all that bad. I kept myself occupied while my husband was away."

She begins to play some keys while in thought about her human life. He starts to play as well which makes surprise consume her mind again. She watches his fingers dance with hers, not far away. She wasn't playing anything in particular, but he made the melody match and it sounds nice. Her eyes follow fingers to his arm up to his body, to finally rest on his side face. His eyes were closed surprisingly and his grin wasn't so extreme.

Her heart picks up in speed, finding herself also in a trance. Her head sparks painfully as a memory pops up abruptly. It only shows her and her husband at the piano like this. Side by side and playing whatever came to mind or heart. A blush dusts her cheeks at the image as she stares at Alastor beside her. He doesn't seem to notice her unwavering stare on his face. 

"Did you work as a radio host by chance?" she asks curiously, wondering if this man could be her husband.

His wide eyes snap open and his fingers rest at the keys, "Something like that." he states.

She nods as she takes that information and filing it for later, "My husband was one too."

"...really now?!" he exclaims a bit too forcefully.

She hums and stops playing the piano as well. "Yes, he had a marvelous voice! Many in the town loved listening to him."

"Did you...love listening to him?"

She laughs lightly, "Even though I can't remember his voice or his words, I know I was always fascinated when he would talk. I have a thing for voices, ya' know?" 

She winks playfully at him and his grin stretches, "Oh you don't remember him?" 

"Something like that."

He remains silent after that until he gets up from the bench, dusting his clothes off. She watches him with interest, honestly wondering if this man could be her husband underneath all those smiles and whatnot. 

"Well! While this talk is entertaining! I believe we need to get to work on that song!" 

She stands as well with a giddy smile, practically bouncing in her flats. "Yes! I agree! Did you have any ideas on what to do?" 

He gives her a side smirk and snaps his fingers. The music room is dyed in darkness and neon colors as some shadow minions pop up from nowhere. The creatures grab some instruments mainly consisting of brass. This scene is much like before when he did the score with Charlie however he decided to not change their outfits besides the neon coloring affecting them.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." she grins lightly while surveying the new additions. 

"I have something in mind, darling!" he announces as he travels closer to her with a chuckle. He boops her nose, "...don't worry your pretty little head about it!" 

She shakes her head, feeling a little excited to work with Alastor. Who knew the famous radio demon liked to sing and create music? She puts her hands on her hips, "I kind of need to worry as this song is going to have to be something demons of all kinds will like." 

He spins his mic around and points it at the shadow clones, "Hit it, boys!" 

The clones begin to play the instruments which she recognizes as jazz immediately. It gives her swing vibes and a huge smile takes over her features. She walks away from him and starts to snap her fingers to the beat, already liking it.

"This is wonderful, Al!" she exclaims as the music takes over her bones. She tries to think about some lyrics and starts to hum some words under her breath. 

He starts to dance around her and she tries to copy his moves with a laugh. "Okay, okay...it's coming together! Al, I need you to present me at the fundraiser!" 

"Whatever you say, darling! Let me hear it!"

"At the beginning of the song, I need you to say 'Ladies and gentlemen, I have the honor and privilege to present you, Miss. Ire and the Swing!" 

His grin stretches, his teeth were almost luminescent in the neon atmosphere as he restarts the beat up, "Ladies and gentlemen, I have the honor and privilege to present you, Miss. Ire and the Swing!" he exclaims as a cued clap follows in the air. 

He starts to dance next her, the moves more fluid now and she laughs. Time to start developing this song!


	8. Lovely Truth's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:
> 
> Hello guys!
> 
> Irene is going to be at the bottom so don't miss her! LOL Isn't she so pretty?! Haha, I really love her. An artist and owner of a discord server I am apart of drew it for me, she's super talented. XD 
> 
> Hope this chapter satisfies everyone's cravings. 
> 
> You guys should join our growing server, it's a good place and I've made lots of friends. Let me know if you are joining from here though. My name is Weird on there. This discord invite link expires in 1 day if you wish to join after it is expired let me know in a comment and I will send a new one. We are really close to 50 people. 
> 
> Server Link: https://discord.gg/5P8Rdh
> 
> Thanks for joining us if you do. :)
> 
> Till next time!

_Buildings fly past her as she jogs toward a restaurant. She is so late! These damned heels, she shouldn't have worn them. Heavy puffs of air escape her lips as she tries to get to the place. How could a woman be late for her first date?! Coming closer to the destination, she slows herself down to a pace. The heels making her feet pound angerly as they weren't made for running of any kind. Fixing her hair up as she goes, she tucks one side behind her ear._

_She stops next to a window to re-organize herself; once she was satisfied, she travels over to the door to the restaurant. Going inside, an employee waits at the desk._

_"Hello Madam, how many will be joining you?" the person greets with a polite smile._

_Irene walks closer to them, trying to stabilize her breaths. "Ah I have a reservation, it should be under Vallier." _

_The employee scans the paper for the name and nods once finding it, "Your other party member is already waiting."_

_The person leads her around the restaurant to the designated table. To say she wasn't nervous would be a total lie. Alastor made her nervous, but most men did when it comes to things such as romance. She's been on numerous dates, looking for a suitor. Most of the time, the men weren't interested much in her besides her father's company or her body. She shakes those thoughts away with a small frown. It won't do her any good to think about this right now._

_ **Alastor is different after all. ** _

_She spots said man sitting by a window, gazing outside it while twirling a glass of wine in his fingers. He was laid back in the chair, in a relaxed way. His brown fluffy hair was slicked back a little with gel and he wore a nice black suit which is paired with a crimson bow tie and a white collared shirt. She can't lie to this either, is that he is incredibly handsome in this attire. Attempting to push the blush away from her cheeks, the employee leads her closer to the table. _

_He finally looks away from the window due to the movement in the corner of his eye. He smiles slowly when he finds her, dressed in a long pale pink dress that hugs some of her curves. However, a white coat traps the viewer from seeing further than that. Her hair is curled to rest a little below her shoulders. He couldn't deny she is a beauty from the world's standards. _

_She smiles with a little wave as she scoops her hair behind her ear again; almost in a nervous habit. The employee leaves with a quick grin and Irene stands before the table. _

_"Good evening, Alastor." she greets with a tilt of her head. _

_He sets down his wine glass and stands up. His grin grows as he examines her a little more, finding her to be to his liking. Polite and shy, the perfect person to hide behind. She may be the woman to just the job. Being the Southern gentlemen he is, he grabs her hand and lifts her knuckles to his lips. He gives them a peck and peers up at her from his eyelids to find her cheeks a little pink. Happy his advances were working he let's go with a charming grin._

_"Indeed it is," he starts and walks around her, to the other chair. He pulls it out for her, motioning for her sit down. "Please, sit and relax."_

_She shrugs off her coat with a nod and sits down in the offered chair. He takes the coat from her grasp and hangs it on the back of her chair. He pushes her in and walks back over to his seat. She kept her eyes on him with keen interest. Both of them stare at each other for a couple of minutes in silence. _

_He breaks the silence by grabbing the wine bottle, "Would you care for some? It's white wine."_

_"Yes, please."_

_He grabs her wine glass as well and pours her some below halfway and offers it to her. She takes it happily and swirls it around thoughtfully. It was almost awkward but he made it comfortable somehow. _

_"How has your day been?" he asks randomly, leaning back in his chair again in a nonchalant manner. _

_She takes a timid sip of her wine before answering, "Honestly? A bit hectic."_

_"Any particular reason?"_

_She nods with a small sigh, "People seem to be trying to get in the way today. Just one of those days I suppose."_

_He takes a sip of wine with a tilt of his head, acknowledging her. "People are so cumbersome sometimes."_

_"There's too much going on for them to realize the others around. Menial in purpose."_

_He leans forward then and raises his wine glass, "To the depraved..." he announces._

_She smirks and does so as well, "...and the idiotic."_

_Their glasses clink in toast and both of them take a sip. A waiter comes by eventually and takes their order. She decided on a plate of spaghetti and Alastor on the other hand orders a very rare steak. _

_"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen anyone order it so rare." Irene points out with interest._

_He glances at her with hooded eyes and the corner of his lips curl upward, "It is simply delectable." _

_She hums in thought, wondering if bloody meat is really good. "Is steak your favorite?"_

_He shakes his head, almost amused by her question, "No, no, darling. I have a specific palette."_

_His grin stretches and she set's her wine down, "Care to share with the class?"_

_Leaning forward a little, he rests his head on his hands; his elbow holding himself up. "A good treat is deer meat.~" he informs with a lilting voice. _

_"I've actually had that before. Mind you, my dad actually hunts sometimes with his buddies." she points out with a smile. "Deer isn't all that bad."_

_Smirking now, he groups his wine and raises it to her, "Good taste your father has."_

_She laughs a little as he sips his wine once more, "He is a good man."_

_"I'm sure he is, I mean look at how he raised you."_

_She blushes only a little, taking the compliment to heart, "That's kind of you to say."_

_He chuckles, "But of course, my dear."_

_Their conversation is broken off by the waiter coming back with their food. He sets their meal down with a friendly smile and a quick 'enjoy your dinner' before leaving to take care of other customers. _

_She looks at Alastor's dish with a hint of disgust, spotting the blood oozing out of it. How he found that tasty is beyond her. He starts slicing the meat up and more blood pours out of it. He spots her in the corner of his eye and offers a cut piece to her. _

_"Want to try some?~" he asks with a challenging grin. _

_She hesitates for a moment, not liking the look in his eyes and how it sparks her in a playful manner. "Sure." she boldly claims. _

_Grin stretching and all, he brings the fork closer to her, "Say 'Ahhh!'"_

_She scowls at him, "I'm not a child."_

_He snickers to himself as he wags the fork in front of her face, "Won't you entertain me for a moment?~" _

_Letting out a 'hmph', she swipes the fork out of his hand with her own teasing smirk, "I'm not easy to wrap around your finger, hun. Better watch out before I bite them instead."_

_She shoves the bloody piece of meat in her mouth thoughtlessly. He stares at her plainly, she couldn't decipher whatever he was thinking. She wasn't sure if she liked the meat this rare, honestly. It isn't bad or anything, just not her favorite way of preparation. _

_"Oh dear, if you were too easy, **I would have never approached you.**" he offers with a twisted look, full of amusement of the woman in front of her. Maybe he has chosen better than he thought._

_She takes his offhanded comment as another compliment. She reaches across the table and sets his fork back onto his plate. "A game with two people is never dull. Especially when the two sides are trying to get to know each other better. Let's say, I have given you the option to find out more about me." _

_His teeth show through his smile in an entertained expression, "Oh? Is this a game than between us?"_

_She snorts in an unladylike manner, the question sounding too incomprehensible. "You made the first move when you approached me, right? I know how men work, but you, you are another species, love."_

_Drowning the rest of her wine, she dabs the corner of her mouth with her napkin. He chuckles a little until it comes out as a full out laugh as he holds his stomach. Everyone turns their way as this was unpolite behavior in a fancy establishment. However, she couldn't find herself giving two hoots. He calms down quickly with that same old smirk printed on his face. It was like it never wore off._

_"_ _The more I know, the more fun this relationship becomes, dearie.~_ _"_

0-0-0-0-0-0

"Charlie!" Irene shouts as she finds her in the office with Vaggie next to her reading a magazine. 

Charlie peers up at her along with Vaggie, "What?!" Charlie exclaims in question. 

Irene practically bounces her way over to Charlie's desk with a wide grin, "I finished the song!" she shouts.

She shoves the paper in front of Charlie, scattering the other ones off her desk. "Wow! Really?!" Charlie shouts happily and takes the paper with a grin as well. She skims through it, her adorable smile growing, "This is wonderful, Ire!" 

Vaggie stands up and peers over Charlie's shoulder curiously, a small smile growing on her lips too. "Hey, this is pretty good." Vaggie compliments.

She lets out a squeal of happiness, "Thanks!-"

"She couldn't have done it without _me!~_" someone's voice interrupts them.

Irene knew it was Alastor without turning around and he walks up to her side with a looming grin. Charlie stares at him in disbelief, "You helped her?"

He chuckles, the radio static combining with the sound. "Yes, indeedy! I will admit it was quite entertaining to help to such a cause!" he acknowledges.

Irene finds Vaggie giving him a death glare, "I'm sure it was." Vaggie states blandly with a roll of her eyes. 

"Either way I feel immensely relieved." Irene sighs out, her stress slowly dissipating. 

"Did you contact that boss of yours yet?" Charlie asks out of nowhere.

Irene blinks in realization and whips out her phone, it's been two days now and still no response. "I did, but he never replied."

"What are we going to do then?" Vaggie asks while crossing her arms in thought.

Irene sighs heavily, "I might have to go visit him." 

"Why?" Charlie asks.

"Because he is purposely ignoring my call." Irene sneers lightly while resting her hands on her hips. 

"But why would he do that? Wouldn't he want a call from you again?" Vaggie asks as well.

"He misses me, he wants to see me face to face, I know it." Irene growls a little. 

"What?" Alastor voices his confusion.

Dragging a hand through her hair, she sighs again, "He's in love with me." 

Silence eats the air at a tepid pace as everyone stares at her in shock.

She shrinks slightly under their gazes and Charlie shoots out of her chair, "_What?!" _Charlie cries. 

Irene chuckles nervously as she watches Vaggie's mouth drop open slowly. "Hah...yeah..." she mutters in thought.

Her old boss, Ryder, is the main honcho of an entertainment business down here in Hell; the business is called 'Penta-Central'. He found her singing on the streets, trying to earn some money as she was homeless when she first arrived in Hell. No money was a real struggle back then. Ryder slowly fell in love with her voice, to point he was almost addicted to it. It wasn't healthy and she had no idea how much it affected him until he confessed he was eventually in love with her. Remembering such an event made her want to die again.

He was a clingy guy, but nothing she couldn't handle. 

When she left the entertainment group after performing and working for them for so many years; she made sure to disappear off the face of the Pentagram knowing he was going to be tracking her down. She made sure to not appear in public and moved to the Eastside to hide the rest of her days. 

She winces as more memories appear of instances when he would make advances. So lost in her thoughts, she didn't feel a dark energy brewing around her. Charlie and Vaggie seemed to notice straight away and cleared their throats, trying to break the both of them out of their thoughts. 

"T-That's a turn of events." Charlie stutters after a few moments.

Coming back to the present, she scratches the back of her head with a nervous laugh. She casts a side glance at Alastor to find him with the same smile although a bit stiff she would say. 

"Yeah, he's annoying." Irene frowns. "But it seems he's making me go to him. Can't do anything about it. We're desperate."

She turns around, prepared to track Ryder down as she heads toward the door to leave. A hand on her shoulder makes her pause and she looks back at the person.

"How about I go with?! I will make sure this person doesn't lay a finger on you, darling!" he offers with a slightly crazed look in his eyes which holds a subtle glow.

Irene frowns and pushes his hand off her, "I can handle myself around him. I've done it for twenty years or so."

His smile increases, as if it were persisting itself. "You get no say if I can come or not. I _am _going." he states as he walks past her and out the door.

She gawks at his retreating back, "Hey! Who do you think you are?!" she shouts as she chases after him.

He ignores her steadily as they leave the hotel with her bickering growing louder until he gives her a glare of sorts which makes her shut up effectively. 


	9. Old Colleagues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, hope everyone is doing well! I have finals coming up soon, so I won't be posting until those are finished. I have a lot of shit to do lol.
> 
> Thanks for the comments and kudos guys! I appreciate that this fanfic is good enough for it!
> 
> Till next time!

She starts her car that sat outside the hotel as Alastor sits in the passenger seat. She casts him a side glance, not happy he was tagging along. Letting out a sigh, she starts to drive to where Ryder works, it is on the other side of town.

The silence between them is tangible, to say the least. The radio starts to play randomly, sounding specifically like the old tube. She hears Alastor's humming come through the static on the radio as a piano performs in the background. He wasn't moving though as if the simple action wasn't that hard. His shit-eating grin never ceased as he watches buildings pass by. He seems _too_ happy to be here.

She grips the steering wheel with irritation, "Did you have to tag along?" she asks, her voice filled with slight anger.

"I am just ensuring that this deal ends in good terms!" he protests, his face screaming lies and humor.

She narrows her eyes at the road, "Uh-huh. I know you have another motive." 

"Dearie, if I did, then I wouldn't say!" he points out with a chuckle.

She takes her eyes off the road and sends him a glare, "I'm going to kill you."

He laughs loudly, holding his stomach in response, "O-Oh?~ That'd be fun to watch!" he cackles as his eyes glow red faintly.

Letting out a low growl, her demon features become more prominent. "You wouldn't be the first I've killed!" she shrieks.

He laughs some more and decides to loop an arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer to his body and a low snarl erupts past her lips. "I wonder how many you've butchered since being here!~" he sing songs and pokes her cheek with an amused smirk.

She tries to push him away but he doesn't relinquish his grip. Attempting to pay attention to the road, she scoffs at him and tries to calm herself down. "I was never a killer, but you kind of have to be down here. It's every demon for themself." she mutters darkly.

He hums in return, almost in agreement. "You don't seem like the killer type." 

"Yes, well, people are never how they appear." 

He let's go of her finally, his grin stretching, "I've never heard anything truer.~" he agrees with an intense look at her. 

It gives her a feeling that makes her uncomfortable as if he knew something she didn't. She gulps involuntarily and brushes her hair behind her ear nervously. She notices that they are not far from Ryder's business building. Turning the corner, she pulls over onto the side of the street. 

"We're here." she announces and unbuckles her seatbelt.

He simply opens the door at his side and steps out. She grabs the keys out of the ignition and was about to open the door when Alastor decides to do so for her. She climbs out of the car and he shuts the door behind her. 

"Are you trying to get back on my good side?" she asks with a slight glare.

"Was I before?" 

She chuckles and adjusts her pink coat, "Nope.~"

He smirks as he follows her toward the front doors to the huge building. "How long did you work here?" he asks eventually. 

She shrugs with a thoughtful look, "Twenty years or so?" she ponders out loud.

He holds the front door open for her and nods her thanks and heads inside. "Wasn't it boring to be in one place for so long?"

"At some points, but I never got tired of singing. More so the people I got stuck with weren't the nicest but then again this is Hell. What should I expect?" 

He walks by her side with his cane like a proper gentleman would, "Like this Ryder fellow?"

She automatically scowls at his name, not excited to see the demon. "Unfortunately so."

"Did he ever do anything out of bounds?" he asks, his voice smoothing out around the end; an almost normal tone. 

She stops before they could approach the front desk, many people were hustling about the place. Some demons she recognized, some not. He stops a little in front of her and she watches as many of the demons in the place start whispering. She wasn't sure if they were talking about her or Alastor, perhaps both. She narrows her eyes at everyone in the vicinity and steps closer to Alastor. That question caught her off-guard for sure. 

"I don't understand why you keep asking me these questions." she states in visible confusion.

Why was he talking interest in her past life? 

"Just wondering, dearie!~" he proclaims with a humorous glint in his eyes.

She frowns a little until she lets it go with a sigh and starts walking toward the front desk. "You're such a confusing man. Now, I'll be back, wait here." she orders at the end and leaves him standing there, not waiting for a response.

She smiles when seeing Martha at the front desk. This brings back many memories she thinks with a small smile. 

"Martha!" Irene calls out with a wave.

Said woman looks up curiously and smiles when seeing Irene. "Oh my! It's been so long since I've seen you!" Martha shrieks happily and stands up from her chair.

Irene bounces over to the woman with excitement, "I know! I'm so sorry for leaving abruptly!"

Martha smiles kindly and grabs Irene's hands, "I know why. It's okay, I forgive you."

Irene nods with a tilt of her head, "I did miss you."

Martha chuckles, "As did I, love." she comments until she leans in toward her. "You should have seen Ryder when you up and left. He was going ballistic with rage, he killed a few employees." Martha whispers to her.

Irene's face pales a little, "It was that bad?"

"Yes! You have no clue how many private investigators he hired to find you! The man's insane about you!" Martha whisper shouts.

The pit of her stomach becomes uneasy at the thought of being stalked basically. "Good thing I moved away, very far away and hid." 

"He is never in a good mood nowadays. It all disappeared, everyone fears him that works here now. He kills someone at least every day."

Irene clutches Martha's hands desperately, "He hasn't hurt you has he?"

Martha shakes her head no, "Not yet. He has threatened to fire me though. It's literal Hell here."

Irene's lips quirk up at the small ironic joke, "You are the only person I liked while working here. I am happy you're okay." 

A sudden shadow looms over them, tall in stature and she spots red in the corner of her eye. "Irene, dear. I don't like waiting, so please hurry up with this heart to heart." Alastor's voice rumbles from beside her.

Martha stares at the demon for a moment as if he looked familiar until it finally sparked a memory of who it was. Her face pales considerably and she sits down almost manically in her chair. Martha was almost shaking in her seat as her fingers tremble against the keyboard. Irene sends Alastor a mini-glare. 

"Couldn't you have waited?" Irene asks him with a glower.

He chuckles as he adjusts his monocle, "You simply take too long. I decided to take matters into my own hands before I got _bored._"

"S-So, are you here to see Mr. Ryder then?" Martha interrupts with a stutter, refusing to look up at them.

Irene frowns, feeling bad for Martha. The Radio Demon is definitely someone every demon should be wary or afraid of. She knew deep down she was as well, he was unpredictable after all.

"Yes. Is he available?" Irene asks with a slight frown.

"I'm sure he will be when I mention you in the comments." Martha remarks, avoiding eye contact with Alastor; he grins upon noticing her fear.

Irene sighs and crosses her arms, "I guess that works."

"You know where to wait." Martha states with a nod toward some chairs in the lobby.

Irene nods and grabs Alastor's arm, but he wretches it out of her grip just as quick. She stares at him in surprise and his smile appears annoyed to some degree, "Please no touching, dearie." 

"Funny, someone I used to know hated being touched as well."

She misses the look he gives her as she walks over to one of the chairs and plops down in one. He takes a seat next to her and watches the demons that walk past them. Some sparing a fearful glance, some too busy to notice.

"And who is that?" he asks.

She narrows her eyes at him suspiciously, "My human husband."

His mouth lifts an inch, his eyes trained on the place around them still. "How funny!~" 

Silence ensues between them but it was palpable. There is simply nothing to discuss. 

"IRENE?!" a voice screeches across the whole damn room. 

Irene freezes in her spot, her eyes widening as everyone stares at her, every single employee and customer. 

"IRENE?! Is that really you?!" the same voice cries out again as the clicking of heels could be heard.

Irene's eye twitches in irritation, "God fucking damnit..." she mutters to herself. 

She finds the overly dressed person with a shit ton of makeup running towards her. Irene cringes seeing the female demon's face and sighs loudly. The woman lets out a cry of joy when she is close enough to Irene. She practically lifts Irene out of the seat with a squeal and hugs her tightly. "Oh, my devils! It's been so long since I've seen your _beautiful face._"

"Good to see you too, Lea." Irene drawls with a blank look.

Lea is a freakishly tall demon whose whole body would crush her if the woman tried. Her black furry skin and midnight blue eyes were what made her famous. She wears a long blue slip dress with a feathery scarf that is pink. She was another singer hired by the company, essentially for extra money. Lea was here first until Ryder hired her, stated she was a better vocalist. Many would call Lea and her enemies but Irene never thought much about it. The woman is irritating, to say the least, but she is cunning as hell.

The female bear demon pulls back with a large grin, a grin so fake it makes the eyes burn. "It's so _nice _to see you again! Everyone was so worried when you quit!" Lea continues.

Irene detaches herself from Lea, not liking the woman touching her. She rubs her arms up and down, trying to get the feeling of flakiness off. "So I've heard..." Irene grumbles.

The woman grabs her by the arm again out of nowhere and brings her face incredibly close to Irene's. "You know after you left. Your _lover _began to give everyone a hard time. I tried to calm him down but he didn't want anything to do with me.~" Lea informs with a pout.

Irene's face is quickly scribbled with disgust, knowing full well what kind of method she tried to use. "He's **not **my lover." Irene corrects her.

"Poor thing!~ You shouldn't be so mean to him. He would do anything for you!" Lea complains and stomps her foot like a child.

Alastor gets up from his chair, his footsteps tapping against the tiled flooring in a condescending manner. "_Dear,_ who is this?" he asks by her side now, his shit-eating grin never more prominent.

Irene is actually grateful for once about his appearance, "Ah, an old colleague. You might know her as Night-Light." Irene answers with a sweatdrop.

Lea examines Alastor with dare Irene say with desire and jealousy. That's until her eyes flicker with recognition of who he is. 

"O-Oh? Is this the famous Radio Demon I am in the presence of?" Lea asks; a nervous look passes through her eyes.

Irene crosses her arms, albeit defensively for some odd reason. "Yes, what of him?"

The two stare at her in adulterated surprise until Lea chuckles a little to fill in the odd gap of silence, "Is he your lover or something?" Lea asks in confusion.

...

Irene stares at the bear demon incredulously, her eye twitching in the process. "What kind of question is that? It's obvious he-" Irene starts to protest before Alastor interrupts by sliding a hand around her waist.

Her face automatically burns red at the intimate action as Alastor's expression is marred with mischievousness and humor. "Why we are at a stage where we are getting to know each other.~" Alastor replies suavely.

Lea gasps a little and stares at Alastor's hand on her hip, "No one would have ever thought. I better leave you to your business then...Bye Ire!"

Irene has never seen Lea leave so quickly in her demon life. She turns to glare at Alastor, "Was that really necessary?"

He chuckles deeply and removes himself from her, "It was entertaining to watch her run with her tail between her legs!~"

She tosses him an exasperated look, "I hate that bitch." Irene mutters.

He snickers in response, "Her voice grates on my ears."

She rolls her eyes and the sound of her name being called again is heard. She finds Martha pointing to the elevator and Irene nods her thanks.n

"Come on, let's go." Irene states as she begins to walk toward the elevator.

He follows along and she hits the up button the elevator. His cane was gone she realized and he held his hands behind as they wait.

"So, when we get up there, don't do anything to upset Ryder. You understand?" Irene instructs as the elevator noise dings for every floor, the building is quite tall.

"I wouldn't harm a fly." he replies innocently and bats his eyelashes. 

She rolls her eyes as the doors open, "You'd have to pay for me to believe that."


	10. Dismissing The Leftovers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my lovely readers! 
> 
> Happy to see many of you are still enjoying this fanfic! 
> 
> So, I tried to find what Ryder in my mind looks like. I came across that photo below if you're curious: It's originally from Gravity Falls, Bill Cipher Human Form.
> 
> FAIR WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER: SOME GORE (however, I kept it light and less descriptive for obvious reasons)
> 
> Enjoy the chapter, kudo, and comment! Well, I like comments more honestly! I will post a Christmas chapter too for you guys! It'll be sweet and short most likely.

a/n: In case you don't read author notes: SOME GORE WILL BE IN IT, BE PREPARED.

0-0-0-0-0-0

Walking out of the elevator, the doors close behind them with a 'snap'. A small demon sat at the desk that Irene's never seen before. Walking up to it, she clears her throat to announce their arrival. The demon looks up at her with one eye, appearing dead inside. She sweatdrops at the look and she offers a polite smile.

"I'm here to see Mr. Ryder." 

The demon simply points to the door, "He's waiting inside."

She nods her thanks and walks over to the double doors that Ryder waits behind. She stares at it with confliction, not wanting to go inside. 

"What are you waiting for?~" Alastor asks from her side.

"To get out of here."

He chuckles a little, "Better make it quick then!" 

She sends him a small scowl and puts her hand on the handle with a long sigh. 

"Ma'am, your demon fellow cannot go in." the worker informs before she heads inside.

She frowns a little and peers up at Alastor, "Guess you'll have to wait. Not sure how long though."

"I guess it can't be helped then! Go on in!" he encourages while gesturing at the door. 

Narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously, she decides to ignore his change in behavior; this is something he would fight considering he wanted to accompany her. She pushes the door open and it creaks a little as she does. The office appeared the same, neat and tidy as usual. Ryder sat behind his desk, the chair facing toward him so he can't see her. She gulps involuntarily and moves closer to him. She couldn't find any words to say to him yet.

She hears a sigh come from Ryder, "Irene?" he asks.

His voice spooks her a little and she tugs a piece of her hair behind her ear, "Yes?" 

He sits up a little straighter his chair upon her voice. He swivels around to face her. He had a smile dancing on his lips. His sandy blonde hair bounces as he rests a hand on his chin. His yellow and black suit glimmering underneath the dim lights in the room. He always liked a darkened room. 

His golden eyes brighten when they find her figure, "Well, well, I knew you would come back." Ryder laughs joyously. 

She shivers and manages to somehow give him a smile, "I came back with a purpose."

He leans back into his chair and folds his fingers together, "I can see that. _Especially after you ran off." _Ryder emphasizes by using two fingers walking in the air.

He reminds her of the day that happened, it wasn't a good one. But she knew she was getting away from him. She stares in thought, remembering the old days she used to come here more often.

"Love?" Ryder's voice emanates across the room which breaks her through her thoughts.

She blinks in response and turns to look at him again, "Yes?-Wait. Don't call me that." she says in annoyance. 

He stands up from his chair with a light chuckle and clasps his hand behind his back. He slowly walks over to her, his eyes trained on her intensely. "You haven't changed a bit." he recalls as he examines her body.

She narrows her eyes into a glare and crosses her arms over her chest, "I'm not here to talk about my life over the past ten years."

"Yes, of course. Pardon my rudeness." he apologizes while leaning against his pimp cane that materializes randomly.

He didn't mean the apology, she knows him too well. She could tell he was very cross with her; if the tight grip on the cane and snarky remarks didn't say anything already. She decides to pull her puppy dog eyes out, she needs to win him over somehow. 

"I know what I did was...unforgivable. You have every right to spite me." she starts and bows her head low, to appear like she actually felt bad. Her hair falls in front of her slightly with the action as she waits for his response. 

She feels his fingers touch her chin lightly and pull her face up to look at him directly in the eyes. She stares at him with surprise, not expecting him to do so. His lips were drawn into a slight frown, "You must truly feel guilty. I have missed your doll-like face, so pretty. Like a jewel." he muses as a finger decides to caress her cheek.

Irene had to refrain herself from exposing a disgusted look. She did not miss this. She hates this man with every fiber of her being. She regrets coming back, she shouldn't have done this. Reaching up, she covers his hand with hers, trying to make him let go. 

"Will you forgive me?" she asks hopefully.

He grips her cheek then, a bit painfully and she holds back a gasp. His face twists into something that kind of scares her. "You must take me for a fool. Forgive you? My dear Irene, as much as I love you, which still runs quite deep, mind you, I don't think you can earn my forgiveness over a few simple words." he explains and moves his hand away from her face.

Her eyes widen in disbelief and a bit of panic. He turns his back toward her, appearing to be calm. _This only makes her more scared. _Ryder never remains calm when he was angry, **only when he is furious does he pretend he is fine.** She backs up a couple of steps when he sighs loudly.

"Please, Ryder. Let me explain myself." Irene begs as fear edges its way into her voice. She never wanted to deal with this again. He's stronger than her, if only by a little bit. Her powers were her voice, not brute strength or any power that flows through her veins. Demon strength can only go so far to protect herself from other common demons. This wouldn't be the first time he's hurt her. 

She looks around her in a panic, wanting to run before he explodes. However, all she saw was a shadow dance in the corner of the room. Confusion interrupts her worried haze and before she knows it, something black fills her vision. This is followed by pain that makes her yelp loudly. She falls to her side, cradling the side of her face automatically. Her blood drips down her fingers and face, the side of her head throbbing at a rapid rate.

Holding back tears, she stares at the gray tiled floor, her vision swimming which only makes her head pulse more. 

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You know, I really don't like hurting you. But sometimes people need to be taught a lesson no matter what." he informs as he taps the cane by her side in a taunting manner.

"Fuck...you." she manages to get out with a pain-filled gasp. 

He chuckles a little and uses the can to force her chin up to look up at him in her crouched position on the floor. "That's not very nice. Maybe you need another less-" he begins, however, he pauses when staring behind her fallen form.

His face contorts into confusion and anger, "Who the bloody hell are you?" he asks in a rigid tone. He takes the cane away from her face to take a defensive stance.

She could hear radio crackles behind her and she instantly knows who it is. She takes her hand away from her face, her vision still wonky. She could find red dying her hand and the floor was smothered with her blood. Her head is currently swimming and pounding angerly. She might pass out...

"The name's Alastor. I would say it's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance however you've hurt someone of my associate." Alastor mentions with his overzealous voice. 

"So what?! What are you doing in my office?! I didn't even see you come in."

Alastor chuckles and walks over Irene's form which is now lying on the ground. Appearing to have passed out. 

"You see, I don't like it when things that are mine are touched in such a manner or rather at all." he explains as he stalks closer to Ryder with a leering grin which slowly sharpens dangerously.

Ryder remains on the defensive but decides to snarl at the Alastor with fury, "What's yours? Are you the reason she ran away?!" he asks raged clipped tone. 

Alastor stops for a moment as a small laugh flies past his lips before it turns into a full out mad laugh. His shoulders shake with amusement, "You really don't know why she left you?" Alastor snides humorously. "I believe the reason she is on the floor is one to take into account."

Ryder begins to shake furiously and points at Alastor with an accusatory finger, "So what?! This isn't any of your business!" he growls out.

Symbols begin to float around Alastor and the atmosphere becomes heavy due to his powers; they start to act up as the area around them starts to bleed a red hue. Ryder's face quickly turns into one of fear as he feels the power build up around them. Shadows start to creep out of the corners of the room. Alastor's shadow puts its hands on top of Ryder's shoulders, effectively spooking him. 

Alastor's grin takes on a lethal look as he stares down on at Ryder with a bright red gaze. The grin so wide on his face, it appears unnatural and unfitting. Ryder stumbles back until his desk hits his back but he tries not to show his fear. 

"Y-You can't kill me!" Ryder stammers out, his voice betraying him. His own powers come out as they respond to his fear. His powers whip around him, trying to hit Alastor. However, they prove to be effortless, not really affecting him as they bounce off him.

Alastor's grin broadens, as his fingernails morph into more of a claw shape; these also glow red as a radio effect resounds around them. Static fills the room, almost deafening in a memorizing way. Ryder's face streaks with panic in reaction.

"Who said anything about killing?!" Alastor asks with a joyous and dangerous tilt. "I was thinking more along the lines of _butchering._" 

Alastor's antlers grow in size and his hair levitates around him as his power influxes menacingly. He grabs Ryder's throat with a mad cackle.

Ryder thrashes in his grip and Alastor lifts him into the air, "W-Wait! I-Irene ne..eds me!" Ryder coughs out.

"No, she doesn't. _I'm all she needs._" 

Ryder starts to claw at Alastor's hands, his lion tail whipping behind him aggressively. "S-She...needs," he gasps loudly, trying to suck in more air. "...money..." 

Alastor decides to run his hand through Ryder's chest, his smile more insane. Blood splatters all over him and the desk. Ryder's mouth drops open in surprise as pain erupts inside him. "_I have all she needs. This little adventure was fun while it lasted. Now I know more about her from her time in Hell, I can tell it was not the most inhabited. No wonder she didn't want to come back." _Alastor muses to himself, his voice on edge with static and almost an echo.

Alastor takes out Ryder's still pulsing heart and drops the dying male demon's body. Alastor stares at the heart decisively. His blood lust at an all-time high, it's been a while since he's feasted on a demon who has aggravated him so much. He licks the blood off his hand happily and decides to take on the rest of the meal shortly after.

0-0-0-0-0

Something hurts, it hurts too much, her brain is splitting into two. The scent of iron hits her nose and her face scrunches up at it. Is that...blood? She ponders thoughtfully and she winces when she tries to move away from the smell. It makes her stomach churn so much. The area around her was wet too, making her feel gross.

The sound of shredding in the background made her a little scared. However, it stops not long after followed by a whistle.

Who was with her? _And what were they doing?_

She tries to open her eyes but pain sparks all over once again. She couldn't stop the whimper from escaping. She cradles herself on her side in a fetal position. What the hell happened to her?! She couldn't remember a damn thing! 

The whistling stops automatically and it is soon followed by wet slaps of shoes. It comes closer to her and she found herself scared. Did someone knock her out _again?_ Becoming more fearful, she attempts to move her body. However, the effort is in vain as her mind refuses to let her. 

"Darling?" a voice whispers at her side as the feet stop next to her.

Who the hell was calling her that? Only her husband did and this person sounds nothing like him. Maybe a distorted version? The hell is that sound coming from the person's voice? It sounds too familiar. 

"Darling." the person calls out again but a bit more stern.

Trying to open her eyes again, she succeeds somehow. Although, she winces in pain due shortly after followed by a hiss. She hears the person chuckle and she could see darkness cast over her form and tile. Peering at the person, she finds someone dressed in red and a terrifying grin. It looks familiar though and that confuses her more.

The place they were in was very dim so she was able to adjust to the light easily enough.

"My head..." she murmurs and touches it lightly to not bring more discomfort. 

He reaches out to her slowly, her eyes seeing double of his hand. "It seems he struck you pretty hard."

She narrows her eyes at him, she was having a hard time focusing. Is this...person-no demon-Alastor? What the hell? Her memories slowly come back but everything was cluttered. Suddenly, voices begin to filter into her mind. With a gasp, she clutches her forehead as the torment increases. I-Is that her human voice?! Who's the other one?! She couldn't make sense of either of them, just a string of endless words. What is happening to her?!

"_Irene." _Alastor calls out, not liking the reaction he was receiving from her. 

"Make...it-stop!" she cries out and small whimpers of pain follow after. 

He frowns down at her and watches as more blood flows from the gash on her temple. Oh dear, how does he fix this? He watches she squirms on the ground. He raises his hand and smacks the back of her neck. Not too hard, he didn't want to kill her. She lets out a gasp and falls unconscious again. He better get her to safety and heal her. He's had his fun and now he must repay her back for it. 

He touches the side of her head, where the blood flows profusely. It stains his hand, redder than before from the previous endeavor. Curiosity takes over him and he licks his fingers. His wife's blood sends a thrill through him. His grin widens at the taste and he snickers to himself. The taste is familiar to before she became a demon. How interesting he thinks to himself deviously. He picks her up bridal style, trying to be careful as she was technically bleeding out. Demons are tougher to kill though. 

He walks out of the office room with Irene in his grip. He decides to have his shadow kill the panicking employee at the desk. All that is left behind him the bones of the life he just took and red footprints of the departed. 

0-0-0-0-0-0

Ryder:


	11. What Lost Comes Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all,
> 
> So sorry it has taken me forever to write this chapter. Some shit went down on Christmas day and has been since then. I was not able to write the Christmas Special piece, unfortunately. If you wish to read it, I will make it simple and sweet, just let me know in the comments, please. I made this chapter longer due to the delay.
> 
> Let me tell you this chapter will be a big reveal lol. So get ready XD.
> 
> Here's a link to a Hazbin Hotel server I am a co-owner in if you are interested. We are a baby server, like 100 members so far. If you are interested here is the link, https://discord.gg/9exkf6T
> 
> Thanks for reading guys, I hope everyone had good holidays. :)

Past Memory:

_Staring at the white dress that loosely hugs her body, Irene does a little twirl on the spot. It glitters under the light and she found herself enraptured by such a design. It was on the expensive side, but her father demanded he pay for everything; being apart of a rich family did have its perks after all. Her thoughts are interrupted by her best friend who walks back into the room she was in._

_"It's all ready!" Maribell exclaims with a giddy smile._

_"So soon?"_

_Her best friend chuckles lightly and strolls closer to her side, "Yes, hun. My you look so beautiful, I'm almost envious."_

_Irene glances down at her white silk gloved hands in second thought, "My apparent beauty does not tame my nerves, unfortunately." _

_"Now now now, don't start that 'I'm not that beautiful' mumbo jumbo on me. You had all the men crawlin' after you!"_

_"Mari, I do not need reminders, especially on my wedding day."_

_Maribell shakes her head with a small smile and starts to pat down Irene's dress abruptly; fixing any creases or unimaginary dirt from it. "I know, you just look like an angel in that gown."_

_Irene blushes slightly at the compliment and clears her throat, "Do you think he'll like it?"_

_Maribell starts to mess with her hair which was pinned up, "Are you asking about the dress or wedding ceremony?"_

_"Uhhh...both?" _

_"Hun, we both know which he will like more."_

_"The dress." they both confirm with a knowing grin._

_Both chuckling at each other, Irene takes a deep breath after. "Do I look ready to go?"_

_Maribel does a once over again and nods to herself, "Yes! You look exquisite!" _

_Irene smiles again, feeling better about her appearance. "Better not keep everyone waiting then."_

_Maribel leaves first with a wink to go join the other bridesmaids. Having the room to herself she checks her makeup for the twentieth time. Once satisfied with herself, she just stares at her face in the mirror. The number of nerves that have built up was almost too much for her to handle. Having second thoughts, in general, made her wonder if she has picked the right man to spend her life with. Well, he was her ideal man, she loves him that is for sure. She knows he loves her back. Though, some scenarios made her doubt. Her gaze flickers to her left hand in thought about her choices._

_ She clenches it into a fist and takes a deep breath. Surely, she was second-guessing everything. This was a life-changing event after all. With a nod to herself, she walks out of the room trying to appear confident in her steps. She goes toward the hall where all the bridesmaid and best men stand. She finds her father, a portly man with a few wrinkles, standing nearby. His eyes find her and he smiles upon seeing her figure. _

_"Oh dear, you are a sight for these old eyes!" _

_"Hi, Papa!" Irene exclaims with excitement._

_He grabs her in for a hug which she happily takes on. After they release each other, he examines her further with watery eyes, "My daughter is all grown up."_

_Irene's eyes tear up slightly and she laughs a little, "Papa, I've been grown up for a while." _

_"That's debatable." _

_She smacks his arm lightly, "I'm ready." she announces._

_Her father turns to look at the announcer with a nod which they return. They go inside where the alter will be and everyone waits with anticipation. The music begins to play and everyone takes their places in a line. Standing next to her father, he holds out his arm for her which she loops her own through. The line slowly decreases and she could feel sweat build upon her neck. Was it hot in here? Or was it just her?_

_The music suddenly changes to the traditional wedding notes and everyone in the chapel raises from their seats. The two of them begin to walk down the aisle. She tries to ignore the gazes of all the people. She spots Alastor standing by the pastor with a wide grin on his face. Dare she say, his eyes were eating her up almost with a sparkle._

_She smiles back, forgetting about the world around her momentarily. Oh, how she couldn't wait for adventures with this man. He keeps it interesting and she didn't understand why she was so hesitant earlier. He was the man of her _ ** _dreams after all_ ** _..._

0-0-0-0-0-0

If she didn't know any better, this was one hell of a migraine. Her dream shatters or well, her memories. But then again, her human life almost felt like a dream compared to how her so-called life is currently. Whatever she was laying on, was quite soft like a bed; perhaps it was a bed. Slowly opening her eyes, she finds an all awaiting darkness fill her sight. Confusion prickles at the forefront of her mind. 

If anything by the scent of the place she was in, she would say it's her bedroom. This did not make much sense to her though. The sound of a soft snore alerts her quickly and her ears flinch forward to find where it was coming from. She can see in the darkness mostly, and she finds a snoozing Charlie next to her side.

Irene's confusion increases and she decides to lift herself up. She winces in slight discomfort but she continues to lean up against the bed headboard. Letting out a short sigh, she peers around the room only to find no one else was in here with them. She glances down at Charlie with a soft smile. Poor girl must have been worried about her...

Irene's memory was a little foggy at the moment. She doesn't remember much after getting onto the elevator at Ryder's workplace with Alastor. Reaching out to Charlie, she shakes the girl's arm to wake her up.

Charlie moves a bit and cracks her eyes open slowly. They both pop open in surprise afterward and Charlie sits up quickly, "Ire! You're awake!"

"Was I out long?" 

Charlie frowns in the darkness, "Around two days I would say."

It was her turn to be surprised and Irene straightens her back, "Two days? Why have I been asleep for such a long period?" she asks.

"Wait? You don't remember?" 

"Remember?" Irene mumbles in confusion. Suddenly a sharp pain races in her head and she grinds her teeth in response. "Did something happen?" she asks after a minute passes by.

Charlie stands from the chair she is sitting in and decides to sit on the side of Irene's bed. Her face was scribbled with concern as she does so. "Your head was messed up pretty bad. How are you feeling?"

Irene raises a hand to her head subconsciously, "Some phantom pain here and there. But nothing to cry over. Did something happen to my head?" 

Charlie gives her a pitying look, "Yes, when you were with Alastor at the-"

Brightness envelopes the two of them abruptly as the door to the room opens in a flash. Irene winces automatically at the light that streams into the dark bedroom. Squinting with one eye, she finds Alastor standing in the doorway with his normal grin. His mic stood on the floor in front of him as he holds it in place. She swore she saw a shadow come into the room but wasn't too sure.

He grin widens as he stalks closer to the bed, "It seems you have finally awoken!" he exclaims as if he were truly happy about the circumstance. 

"Ah, yes. Care to tell me why I was knocked out in the first place?" Irene asks with a piqued eyebrow. 

He chuckles a little, his mic disappearing momentarily, "If there is one thing you should know; it's that you are positively horrible at making deals!" 

She sends him a mini-glare and Charlie watches the two of them in confusion. "It was so bad that he _almost _ killed her?" Charlie questions with a narrowed gaze at the red demon next to them.

He shrugs nonchalantly, "Kill is a bit excessive..." 

Her face pales considerably along with both their comments, "Hold up. Ryder almost killed me?!" Irene shrieks.

Charlie laughs nervously and rubs the back of her neck, "Uh, well, it was hard to tell since by the time you got here; your body was already healing." 

She turns to glare at Alastor now, "You better tell me everything that happened! No lies, no nothing!" 

_"I don't have to tell you a thing." _Alastor states, his normal voice leaking out of the radio effect briefly. 

Irene's jaw drops and Charlie stares at the two anxiously. She starts to get up from the bed swiftly and exit the room, "Oh? I think I hear Vaggie calling for me! Alastor look after her, yeah?" Charlie mentions with a small awkward laugh before she leaves.

Irene dismisses the act, not blaming her pupil for leaving. She wouldn't want to be next to Alastor either if she could choose. "Why can't I know?" she asks in a calm voice, suspicious of the man by her side.

He silently stares at her in thought before taking the chair Charlie was sitting in before. He lowers himself down into it and crosses his legs. His grin gained a mocking edge to it. "Nothing really happened. Don't worry about it, darling!" 

She winces when a spike of pain rushes through her head again. His eyes catch the motion but he opts to ignore it. "Alastor, just tell me what happened. Clearly it's serious when an injury to my head was involved."

He rests his elbow on the arm of the chair, resting his own head on the palm of his hand. "What do you think happened? I'm curious about what your mind has conjured."

"Ryder..." she begins and clutches the blankets that lie over her lap. "...he tried to kill me?"

"Close, but not quite."

"That's not the first time he's hurt me. But I don't think he's knocked me unconscious before..."

He sits up a little, not so relaxed now. "What else has he done?"

"I wish not to speak of it. It's in the past and I do not want to think about such things."

"You can trust me, Irene.~" he claims as his the corner of his lips lift.

"As I said before, I am not an idiot. It's going to take a lot for me to do that."

He shrugs again and leans back into the chair, "I did choose you for a reason, but even by that point you began to trust me without even knowing." he mutters.

That catches her attention immediately, "Come again?" 

His teeth sharpen slightly as he stands from the chair, clasping his hands behind his back. "Let's just say this Ryder fellow will not be helping us no further."

"No no, don't change the subject. Repeat that." 

A red glint flashed in his eyes and the static around him increases ever so slightly, "Dearie, I would advise you to not order me around. I shall do as I please."

"Why? Because you feel like a bigger demon because you have _control?" _

His abrupt chuckle turns into a full out laugh, "You never are able to hold your tongue, are you?!" he boasts.

"How-You know something I don't, I can see it in the way you talk and look at me!"

She kicks the blankets off her, feeling a little too warm and he watches with humor, "Darling, are you sure you aren't just accusing me of things?"

She lets out a huff from pent up anger and looming curiosity, "You would have killed me by now if they were false accusations."

"I forget how cunning you are, my dear."

She crosses her arms and gives him a glare, "I don't know what sick humor you get out of watching me struggle. But it's beginning to piss me off. Stop hiding things from me!" she shouts. Her demon features begin to become more prominent as her hackles grow.

"Whatever do you mean?!" he jests with another mocking grin.

She feels something grab her shoulder, but it was cold. She looks behind her to find his shadow grinning insanely at her. She narrows her eyes at it, not liking this scenario one bit. 

"Tell. Me. The. Truth." she mouthes to Alastor with a fiery gaze, her voice amplifying her anger and power.

He doesn't seem affected in the least, his grin grows if anything else. He bends down to stare at her in the eyes, quite close to her face. "I don't want too!~" he laughs out, his shadow snickering behind her.

"Did you kill him, Ryder?! Why is it such a secret?! You make no sense!" she growls out.

"Oh, you still are the smart type. Congrats.~" he jests again.

"Your whole existence makes no sense to me!" she states in frustration. The passing of Ryder flying over her head momentarily. She couldn't be happier that the bastard was dead anyway.

"Why are you hung up on me? I wonder..." he mumbles mainly to himself while tapping his chin in thought.

She points at him, "All you do is harass me, you fiend! Your whole existence just pisses me off so far!" 

He laughs again, his head tilting back a little until he fixes himself. "You are fun to mess with I do not deny!" 

He abruptly turns around and begins to walk away, his shadow jumps back into the shadows as well. She gawks at his back, not understanding why he was leaving.

"H-Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" she shouts at him. 

"You are boring me right now. I will take my leave!" 

"H-Hold on! I'm not done talking-"

The door slams shut and her bedroom is consumed in darkness once more. She sits there, thinking over their conversation. She barely learned anything! That jerk was controlling everything the whole time! She jumps back out of bed and grabs her robe nearby. He was slowly revealing stuff, to see if she would catch on. She's no idiot, she may not have an education, but she did have an excellent brain. That even her human husband would compliment on quite often...

She freezes before she opens the door that leads back out into the hotel hallway. Compliments on her smarts...

He couldn't be doing it on purpose, right? _'I did choose you for a reason, but even by that point you began to trust me without even knowing.' _his voice from earlier interrupts her thoughts. Pain shoots through her head again and she clutches the sides of it. 

_'Darling, I have never someone so intelligent with the piano. It is most peculiar, but at the same time entertaining!'_

_'You wrote this song? It's astounding, the restaurant will love it!'_

_'Dear, you never cease to amaze me.'_

Her eyes widen as the pain increases. That was her human husband's voice, she would recognize it anywhere. How could she forget it? Tears run down her eyes and she takes a shuttering breath. She grabs the handle of her door with a sob. Her husband...was out here, has been here for the longest time. 

Yanking the door open, she searches up and down the hallway for him.

The elevator doors close the minute she spots him and she sprints toward it. She watches the numbers go up and she smacks the up arrow on the button panel. It eventually comes down and she hits the number he went to when the door opens for her. Thousands of thoughts run through her head. Most of them wondering why her sociopathic husband hasn't killed her yet. After what she did, she would assume she would be cut off immediately.

He knows for sure too. He's been dropping hints his whole time. 

The elevator opens with a ding and she finds him at his door with a key. He hears the sound and turns to look her way. She was breathing so heavy, she wasn't sure if the air was getting into her lungs. 

"Irene? What are you doing out here?" he questions from down the hall.

She starts to march towards him and he watches in amusement.

"Darling, if you are trying to get more answers out of me. You should no it will not work." he continues as she comes closer to him.

Once in front of him, she relaxes her clenched up fists that unconsciously formed. Irene knew she was shaking because deep down she knew she shouldn't be here. She should be forming a plan to run away from him. 

"You've always been an idiot." Irene mumbles and grits her teeth.

"Pardon?" he asks in confusion, this insult coming out of nowhere.

Her eyes cloud with more tears, as her blank memory of his voice begins to fill the majority of her mind. Whatever the hell happened to her in Ryder's office, bless it a million times that it did happen. 

Tears escape the corner of her eyes, "W-Why? Why haven't you killed me yet?!" she cries out. He blinks down at her in confusion and a bit bewildered by the sight of her. He was about to respond when she cuts him off. "Al, you're such an idiot truly."

Irene hugs herself, knowing he wouldn't want her to touch him. Old habits were coming back knowing who he was exactly now. 

"I missed that radio host voice a lot, you know?" she rambles.

The lights in the hallway flicker as his face morphs into one of understanding and wickedness. Her soul was already damned, but she just killed herself the second time it would seem. His grin grows into one of a mad man she's only seen once on her human husband's face; this one familiar but not at the same time. 

"Welcome back, _darling!_~" Alastor exclaims with a voice so staticky it belongs in a horror novel. 


	12. Death Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellllo!
> 
> I bring you the new chapter! Lol nothing new. I hope you guys enjoy it >.<
> 
> Poor Irene, I put her through so much.
> 
> I might be posting new chapters not as often now that college has begun again. I have so much reading and writing to do for classes (life of an English major). But I wish to improve my writing because I know I can do better!
> 
> If you guys have any suggestions for chapters you might want to see in the future. Let me know, please! 
> 
> Thanks for supporting this story, guys!

Past Memory:

_My house is what I consider cozy, you know? The kind of Southern cozy though. The whole wrap around porch and everything including a swinging bench outside. I don't mind it one bit. Their life was simple, to say the least. Nothing out of the ordinary, besides my husband. He's a quirky one, that's for sure. Of course, I knew this before marrying him. That's a detail I enjoyed about him. He always speaks his mind about a matter that he deems worthy._

_However, he can be quite confusing at some moments._

_At one point, he'll be perfectly content; then in a couple of hours, he could be cackling at a newspaper for no good reason. It really made no sense to me. I wasn't afraid to ask him, but I thought it might be best to not say anything about it. I've caught him lying a couple of times before too. They are small things, nothing really to worry about; though sometimes I wonder why he would lie about such things. _

_I know all humans lie, that is no new discovery. It is odd perhaps, but I don't think about it too much. He treats me well, and I suppose that it can be overlooked for now. He was a great husband after all. Perfect in every way almost. If I didn't know it, I would say he was my idea of a 'perfect' man. How I was so lucky is inconclusive but I will take what I get and be happy with it. _

_If there was one thing I loved about Alastor, it was his way of viewing the world around us. It concerns me sometimes though when he will laugh at someone who dies from something that is considered a 'dimwitted move'. This behavior is another thing that strikes me oddly. Whenever asked about, he deflects the question with another question. It irritates me to my own grave, but I do not wish to pick fights or arguments with the man. After all, he was such a supporting husband. Many women in this day and age, don't get that kind of treatment often. _

_This does not damage my love for him though. It took a while to grow, but it now has so many layers that it almost scares me. While he tries so hard to understand me, I try to do the same back. I once read that it was smart to do this to prevent an unhealthy relationship. I've heard gossip from all around about how many housewives don't end up loving their husbands. Such a shame really. I guess I'm a fortunate one. I fully believe that whatever I and Alastor share, it is a connection of sorts. _

_That may just be my love for him though, blocking my senses. I know for sure, that we do hold mutual respect for each other. That is quite important I would note. He has some, er, 'odd?' quirks I would call them. He doesn't like to be touched for one. I asked him why once, but all I could get was something about 'people being too friendly'; whatever that means. I'm his wife for goodness sake, I should be allowed to even touch the man. Perhaps, his trust in me is not that strong. Hopefully, he will overcome such sensitivity through our time together. _

_Through these ramblings in my dairy, I realize more things odd about him. I know we have not been wedded long, perhaps a couple of months or so by now. However, Alastor has yet to touch me at all as well. I mean, not the 'touch of the arm' or 'a brush of a kiss' type of touch. I mean the kind where our night is well spent doing other 'activities'. Every woman talks about it and I suppose I wonder about such a 'hot' topic. There is no longing after me, as most women would call it. Nothing happened during our honeymoon or wedding night either. _

_I never confronted him about it, as it is a delicate topic and I suppose I would be entirely embarrassed. Just writing about this perturbs me, and well a feeling of sadness sweeps over my heart. Not being wanted in such a way can really lower a woman's security. I know there is nothing wrong with me, I am called the 'ideal' woman after all (I hold that quite proudly). I fear talking about it will anger him. Not that he is ever angry with me. He hides it behind that damned smile of his. Every emotion hides behind that smile of his. As charming it can be, I find myself get slowly irritated by it. _

_-Oh, I must go now. Dinner needs to be made. _

_Till next time journal._

_-Irene_

0o0o0o0o

Irene has never been so scared in her life than she is now. Actually, that may be a lie, but this fear warrants high on her list. Alastor-_no-_her husband begins to snicker which evidently turns to a cackle. Black starts to filter around them and goosebumps start to swarm the entirety of her body. This was it, after all, this is how she was going to die.

If the way she was reading his insane smile, the outcome of her surviving this newfound mystery was going to be five percent. He starts to walk towards her, his steps echoing in a haunting way. She gulps and starts to step back away from him. It reminded her of a predator stalking its prey. She kept her gaze on him the whole time, to be prepared to fight for her life; no matter how useless it would be. 

Something solid hits her back and she freezes, realizing her had her against a wall. Panic springs forward in large amounts, her brain trying to process the realization of what is truly going to happen. She could feel some feathers begin to poke out of her skin, her demon side already gaining its features to protect herself. His grin widens seeing them appear and he leans forward, his red glowing eyes piercing into her own.

"What's wrong, darling?~"

Her breathing stutters at the name, her mind pulsing still from the brought up memories. "D-Don't call me that." she mutters, her face paling a degree.

He brings a hand to her cheek, but she doesn't flinch. He cups it and rubs his finger on it in a way where it looks loving; she knew differently though. "Why not?~ I used to all the time! _Don't you remember?~" _he asks darkly in the end.

His voice fills her head, the number of times she has heard the word. "I-I..." she begins, her thoughts were an absolute mess right now. "...we're not married anymore." she mentions and starts to wipe at her face. The dried tears were bothering her, but she felt another onset coming soon (she makes sure to avoid touching him though).

By that point, he grabs her chin with his thumb and pointer in a rough manner. The static increasing slightly, and dare she say his eyes were becoming pinpoint. "_You are still my wife, Irene. _I believe you deserve punishment for what you did, oh so long ago!~" 

Her eyes widen, as the situation goes from dangerous to absolute terror. She really was hoping he didn't remember, however it seems God really is punishing her. The grip on her chin suddenly disappears and his hand grabs her neck, squeezing tightly. Letting out a surprised gasp, she struggles in his grip. She tries to save whatever air was left in her.

He cackles madly and get's closer to her face, "Such a bad wife, you know? I was hoping you never would notice, I thought I did a good job hiding the fact of what I did. I was a good husband to you, weren't I?!~" he exclaims insanely, going on a rant almost. "You should've been more grateful that I didn't even harm you! Yet, what you do is backstab me! Hah!"

She wheezes slightly and the nails on her hand extend. She knew the tears were clouding up her vision which started to go in and out little. She raises her hand swiftly to try and claw at his own on her neck. He caught on though and his shadow appears out of nowhere, trapping her hand against the wall. She coughs, the air slowly escaping her. 

"Y-You nutjob!" she tries to get out of her mouth.

He snickers lightly and tightens his grip more. Making a whine come from her in pain and fear. "It's not nice to name call, dear! Especially with the condition you are in now! You're pretty weak here in Hell I've noticed. No difference from when you were a human!" 

She could feel herself losing consciousness, at this point, she wants to. Not confronting her husband sounded nice, she rather is lost to darkness for a while. He seems to notice how the lack of her struggling begins to stop and he decides to throw her onto the ground next. She gasps loudly, sucking in air greedily. Of course, he wouldn't let her die so quickly. 

Irene rubs her throat and sends him a mini-tearstained glare. 

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I've shown great restraint from killing you, I'll have you know! It's been quite difficult. Now, that you know, I can't have you blabbering everything to the rest of the staff here. It would ruin my plans after all.~" 

"Just kill me already then, there's nothing stopping you!" she shouts, wanting her death to come; she didn't want to be around this maniac anymore. Especially since she knows how dangerous he is in Hell. 

"You see that's the problem here." 

Confusion masks her thoughts and she sits up a little, "What? Why can't you kill me? I know you want to, your attitude is screaming so."

He reaches toward her, his hand slowly edging closer to her head. He clutches her hair into a tight grip and lifts her head off the floor with a sadistic grin spread on the entirety of his face. "_Unfortunately, Charlie needs you to advocate for this hotel._" 

She winces when he gives her hair a painful tug and she gives him another glare, "Then you'll kill me afterward?" she asks with a low growl.

He lifts her up and closer to him by her hair, the static increasing in pitch, "_Darling, I'm going to make you suffer before I finish you off!~_"

She tries to shrink back from his terrifying expression, something out of the nightmares she would describe. She would be lying if she tried to pretend she was not scared. He knows she is too. She feels some tears slide down her cheeks, "What's the point? I could tell anyone about the kind of person you are!"

Irene knows she wanted a death that is short and quick. Perhaps irking her husband would be the way out of this hellhole and his being in general.

He lets go of her, as he puts his palm to his face in thought, "You won't." he states confidently as he seems to calm down slowly. The hallway loses the black inkiness touch to it as does Alastor's extreme demon features.

"Wha-How do you know?!"

He snickers quietly to himself, "My dear it's so simple as to why."

She sweatdrops in concern to his answer, "Stop beating around the bush!" 

"It's because you're still in _love _with me of course!"

Her face pales and she feels her heart drop, "What? What! There is noooo way!" she shouts.

His grin gains a cocky hint to it, "Whatever you say dearie!~" 

"I hate you." 

"Liar!~"

Irene starts to stand with a snarl, beyond irritated and still overwhelmed. This man, this demon, made her want to run away and kill him at the same time! Living with him as a human was so much easier! Instead, now she has this version of him that does not care about a single thing but himself. 

"No, I really do hate you." Irene growls lowly. 

He shrugs nonchalantly and stands in the process as well, "Makes no difference to me! _Since your emotions will remain ineffective in the end." _

Her heart crumbles a little for some reason at the threat but she does not show that it affects her. "I can't believe I ever fell for you in the first place." she huffs out and crosses her arms defensively.

"Oh? You weren't complaining at the time.~" he teases with a chuckle.

"Shush you! I don't want to hear it from someone who fakes feelings!" she snarls again, her eyes turning red temporarily in rage. The amount of resentment built up after she died is insurmountable.

He snakes an arm around her shoulders and brings her closer to his side, "You sound quite perturbed that I even did! You must have really _loved _me then.~" 

She pushes him away automatically, but he dodges by moving away from her. She fights an embarassing blush from exploding on her cheeks and starts to walk away, "The moment you kill me will be bliss!" she shouts.

"I have yet to hear that one! Darling, you are still so entertaining to me!" his radio voice boom down the hallway.

She hits the down button on the elevator with a frown. "That seems to have always been what I am to you..." she mutters under her breath.

Irene could feel his gaze on her figure and the doors open with a ding. Shuffling inside, she hits the number to her floor. Flickering her eyes to his figure, he continues to stand in the middle of the hallway with that idiotic grinning expression. The doors slowly closed and she feels a tear run down her face. 

To know he was hesitating to even kill her worries the majority of her thoughts. However, the small feeling of relief is present somewhere in her heart. She really missed him, but perhaps she is reminiscing his human self. The two are different but the same. It was confusing to her almost. All demons lose a part of their humanity, but most of her own stuck somehow. Maybe it is because she is not truly bad nor good either. 

One thing was for sure though, and that was the fact that her husband was not the same person. The grin may have stayed but the lust for death has greatly increased. It was clear to her he was a sociopath the moment she found out he was a killer in the human world. This only show's the depth of his desires in Hell. If anything, even influences them. 

Letting out a long drawled out sigh, she ponders her life over the leftover time she has here. Knowing her predestined death date is unsettling. Her death wish came true after all. Time to take baby steps around him. The doors open to her floor and she walks out of the elevator to her bedroom. 

Alastor, there is much I have to say but I don't think you would care to know. Their parting in the human world will always remind her of who he could have been if he was normal. 

Her love is fickle now, and her feelings toward him most brittle. It was all easily broken the moment she never saw him again.

...and it came back in a rush from what was left behind.


End file.
